Personal Computer News (GB)

cut-price MSDOS system

The galaxy’s most
battle wagon.

Narcon Heatseekers from the back. LasaSlamma Tanks in front.
HeliChargas from above.

A friendly mission to Zon has become a desperate fight for
survival.

Now, as Troopa Truck trundles and leaps across Zon’s surface, only
one person in the galaxy can save it

You.

The ticket to Zon is £5.99 ( RRP inc. VAT), and the journey starts at
Boots, WH Smith. Rumbelows, or any intergalactic computer games shop.

Your Commodore 64 will love it to bits.

linillicud (u t Speci/uun, VJC~20 & GUM -64.

REGULARS

PRO-TEST PERIPHERALS

Monitor 2

QL anticipation reaches fever pitch,
page 2; Downline loading hits
software shops, page 3; Memotech
unveils its disks, page 4; Chip crisis
faces UK micro makers, page 5; and
micros muscle in on music, page 6.

PCN Charts 9

Follow the fortunes of your favourite
games in Britain's best
microcomputing bestsellers list.

Random Access 1 1

Drop us a line and your thoughts
could win you a tenner.

Routine Inquiries 12

Whatever your problem, ask our
panel of experts.

Microwaves 15

Hints, tips and helpful routines from
our readers, this week covering the
BBC and Electron. Commodore 64.
Memotech and Spectrum plus a fix
for Forth.

Readout 16

Our regular look at the new books.

Clubnet 79

PCN puts you in touch w ith like-
minded enthusiasts in clubs and user
groups across the United Kingdom.

Billboard 90

Pick up a bargain or find ar buyer for
your unwanted equipment in our
weekly micro marketplace.

Quit/Datelines 96

Make a date with all the leading
micro events both at home and
abroad.

SPECIALS

Spectrum

paraphernalia 27

Now you've got your Spectrum it
could* be the start of something big.
John Lettice has some ideas on
expanding your system.

Learn about Lisp 32

Kenn Garroch traces the history of
this long-established language, best
know n for its artificial intclhgence
applications.

February 25, 1984

No 50

Cover photography. Jay Mvrdal

Cover story

Enter the Sanyo 1 8

Kenn Garroch tests the Sanyo
MBC550. Japan's latest contender in
the westen business market offering
MSDOS for under £700.

Your 64 speaking 36

Let your Commodore have its say
with the company's long awaited
speech synthesiser. Barry Miles is
impressed by the quality.

BBC in control 39

PRO-TEST SOFTWARE

Your Model B could take over your
home thanks to Interbeeb. an
interface that introduces real-time
control applications

Follow that Beeb 55

Now you can see w hat’s going wrong
with your code thanks to this
machine code trace program.

Utilise your Atari 57

Could you use a little help around the
house? Check out two utilities that
could make life a bit easier.

Spectrum 58

Urban deprevation side by side w ith
Godzilla and the Martians.

Dragon 62

Pilot a spaceship or just go fishing.

PROGRAMS

Oric 64

Tiptoe through the minefield in this
explosive program for you to key in.

QL queue stretches . . .

The dessand for the QL ha* been phenomenal from the day we
launched it. we expect to be able to deliver your QL not
later than the end of May. We realise that the time
between now and then will be frustrating, but we areconfident
that your QL will be worth waiting for and. of course, we
will do everything possible to beat our target date for
sending it.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Searle
Managing Director

Now the had news — Sinclair’s letter to

nor the OL itself to play with.

By Geot Wh^twrigM

You muld tv waiting up to tour
months for delivery of a Sinclair OL
micro.

Sinclair Research has sent out
letters to everyone who has so far
ordered the machines — and for
orders that were placed on the day
of the machine's launch they prom-
ise that 'we expect to he able to
deliver your OL not later than the
end of May.'

A Sinclair spokesman said last
week that the delivery dates in the
letters arc 'worst case' dates and
that actual deliveries may be made
some time earlier. He added that
the company still plans to stari
shipping QLs to customers by the
end of this month.

But for most people the wait is
going to be at least 28 days and in all
likelihood about three times lon-
ger. During that period they will
have neither the £400 cost of the OL

Sinclair said although it is cashing
all the cheques it receives for the
OLs. those cheques are going
straight into a trust account which
Sinclair cannot touch until it deliv-
ers machines to the people who
ordered them.

The Sinclair spokesman said he
doesn't yet know what will be done
with the interest generated by the
money silting in the trust account.

and added he hasn't yet considered
offering cither free user group
memberships or other consolations
to people facing long delays.
However, a little mathematics
shows that money paid before
delivery could generate a large
amount of interest.

Sinclair has said that orders are
currently running at about 5*X1 per
day — so that in the first 30 days, the
company would have received ab-

out I5.INN* orders for an average of
about £400 each (the figure will be
higher for people w ho have ordered
the optional OL user group
(OLUB) membership). This
amounts to about £6 million in
orders received so far (give or take
£1 million) — generating between
£70.000 and £ 100.000 if left in a trust
account for two months at between
7 and 10 per cent interest.

The final interest figure could be
lower than £70.000 depending on
how many people ordered their
OLs by credit card — credit card
ordcrscannot be processed until the
product is being despatched. And
Sinclair is encouraging people to
place their orders by credit card so
that they don't tic up their money
while waiting for the OL to be
delivered.

'We don't want to mislead
people in any wav.' said the
spokesman

Desk-top duo

The UK’s two biggest names in

a limited season only. OL User has
to limit itself at this stage to an
overview of the machine.

Joe the Lion ( member of the Pasc
group of companies) is happy to
announce the first of a range of
programs for . . . guess what? The
Spectrum Emulator will be avail-
able on microdrive so you can load a
Spectrum machine code program
into the OL and run it as on a
Spectrum. Joe the Lion has yet to
write the thing and requires prog-
rammers ‘urgently'.

Then there's the fascinating up-
surge of myth and rumour. Several
companies arc supposed to be
working on monitors especially for
the OL. Another hot tip (to be
taken with a pinch of salt ). concerns
Sinclair's buying up some 7.0(10 3in
Winchester disk drives which it
plans to knock out to the users at
£200 a shot once it has the interfac-
ing worked out. This one seems
unlikely — when asked the Win-
chester drive question at the OL
release Sir Clive maintained that his
company could sec no cost advan-
tage for the user.

computing have got together to
re-arrange desk-top micro-
processing.

ICL is expected to launch a
system known as Onc-per-Desk
later this year. Built around the
Sinclair OL technology it will also
include telecommunications facili-
ties. bringing the prospect of very
cheap networking combined with
powerful local processing to busi-
ness users.

With a OL or its elements on
board the Onc-per-Desk could
offer local main memory of up
644IK. with microdnvcs giving an
extra 1(K)K each. ODOS combined
with the 68(108 processor holds out
the promise of fast multiple tasking
The bottom line, price, could be
exceptionally low for a networked
terminal, since the OL itself costs
099.

Implicit in the device's name is
the suggestion that ICL intends it to
take on many of the day-to-day

office jobs that are more commonly
done manually — diary notes,
memos, call logging etc — besides
local computing, word processing,
and the possibility of using the
resources of a network. ICL's
connection with the Canadian tele-
comms specialist Mitel will take
care of one aspect of the network
and its experience with networked
products from micros to main-
frames will handle another

ICL intends all its products to
have networking capability in fu-
ture — its established DRS range of
K-bit work stations is intended to be
compatible with IBM and ICL
mainframes. This range in fact
makes up 30 per cent of the
company's entire sales.

The development also goes hand
in hand with Sinclair's plans for the
future. 'Utilisation of our technolo-
gy into that kind of field supports
our general move into more profes-
sional-type markets,' said a
spokesman.

IBM into takeaway business

STOP PRESS

And treasure
hunt reaches
fever pitch

By Ian Seths

The launch of the Sinclair OL has
sparked off a treasure hunt atmos-
phere rarely seen since the Gold
Rush days of the old West Sinclair
computer releases, or rather tjic
expectations they generate . seem to
have reached new heights — here's
the state of play.

When it was considered that
Sinclair had produced three micros
in rapid succssion — the ZX80.
ZX81 and ZX Spectrum in succes-
sive years — it seemed that the
longer the gap between the Spec-
trum and its successor, the more
earth shattering the product was
likely to be. A whole industry,
spawned by the Spectrum and
gaining nourishment by providing
software, add-ons. publications,
and sundry other services, was
poised ready.

At present, the OL is still being
churned off the assembly lines —
deliveries may (just may) be start-
ing as you read this. But already
hardly a day goes by without more
symptoms of OL fever appearing.

The first stunning announcement
was from an outfit calling itself the
Independent OL Users' Group —
completely independent of OLs
presumbably One imagines a
group of hardened hackers meeting
in a draughty hall comparing Sinc-
lair order-form confirmation slips.

rhen came the fully-blown half-
baked publication called OL User.
The only people who have actually
used the thing so far arc a handful of
software developers. Sinclair staff
and a few journalists — and then for

It's official — IBM is to launch
a transportable micro which will go
on sale in the US from March I at a
price of $2,795.

It is thought the machine will
weigh in at 25lbs and will run
virtually all the programs that run
on the PC

At the same time IBM also
announced a 'duster control prog-
ram' that w ill allow up to 64 PC's to
be linked together in a network at a
cost of around $500 per connection .

It is too soon to say when these
products w ill be available in the U K

or how much they will cost. When
they do arrive they will find an
anxious queue of buyers. 'A port-
able IBM will sell like hm cakes,'
said one major IBM dealer.

Hardest hit by the IBM
announcement will be Compaq and
Bytcc Corporation which make
IBM comaptiblc portables. IBM
had been expected to announce a
portable PC some time this year but

its decision to release it so soon was
probably motivated by the success
of the plug compatible manufactur-
ers and the less than cnthusiatic
reception that greeted the PC Jnr

Industry analysts now expect the
next product release from IBM to
be a lap-held portable.

More details about the new IBM
PC and the networking system will
appear in next week's issue.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1<*U

PCN MONITOR

*

■

Rent-a-program

Buying software on cassette could
soon he a thing of the past if two
developments just announced take
off.

Prism Microproducts has re-
leased details of its pilot scheme to
distribute software to shops over
the telephone . The shop would then
sell it on to micro users in the form of
re-programmable cartridges.
When you get fed up with a game
the idea is that you can go back to
the shop and reload the cartridge
with a new game.

Meanwhile British Telecom's
Cable Interactive Services subsidi-
ary has signed a deal with Rediffu-
sion to run a software by cable'
scheme. For £9.95 a month a
subscriber will get a 4KK Spectrum,
special modem and a choice of free
games and educational software.

Prism first announced its inten-
tion to launch its re-programmable
cartridge service in July last year

(Issue 19). The company had se-
cured the UK rights to a system
developed by Romox. a US com-
pany.

The shop uses a special terminal
to download the software from a
central computer. The terminal is
then used to program a blank
cartridge which contains an
EPROM The user can either keep
the game on the cartridge or. if he
wants a new one. take it back to the
shop which erases the EPROM and
loads a new game.

Initially, cartridges will be avail-
able for the Commodore 64. Vic 20.
Atari 600 X00 VCS and TI-99 4A
Plans arc also in hand to add the
Sinclair Spectrum Blank cartridges
will cost between £10 and £16 each
and the program between £5 and
£10.

The trial scheme will be held in
London and the South East and will
involve major high street retailers.

Initially around 40 shops will be
involved.

The CIS service will initially be
available through a limited number
of Rediffusion's 50 local relay
systems and will use two pairs of
redundant wires in the cable (they
were used for radio broadcasts) to
transmit the software.

The modem will be a "black box'
using a unique protocol and trans-
mission speed of 4.XK bits per
second. As a result neither Prcstel
nor 300 baud modems can be used.

Programs downloaded on this
system cannot be saved on tape or
microdrivc but the user can down-
load the same program as many
times as he likes for no extra charge
above the £5.95 monthly subscrip-
tion.

Trevor Havelock of CIS says that
a lower rate for subscribers who
already have a Spectrum is under
consideration.

Jupiter Ace
jumble sale

The Jupiter Ace looks set for one
final fling before being pronounced
officially dead. A Cambridge com-
pany has bought up the remaining
stock of Aces but it has no intention
of manufacturing the machine.

This could well be the final
chapter in the Jupiter story. It is
now three months since Jupiter
Cantab crashed and the liquidator
has been unable to find a buyer for
the manufacturing rights.

The remaining stock of around
2,000 machines has been bought by
Oldfield Ltd Computing (0487
840740) which intends to sell them
on mail order at a price of £29.90.

Paul Downham. Oldfield's direc-
tor. says that the micros will first be
made available through computer
clubs before it considers advertising
more widely

It is also offering a package deal
of Ace plus RAM pack for £50.60
and reduced prices on Jupiter
software.

Egg on faces
as Elan turns
into Flan

By Ralph Bancroft

Some people in the microcomputer
business have thick skins. Either
that or they have an enormous sense
of humour

Take Elan Computers, the com-
pany that promised (Issue 29) to
produce by April a machine called
the Enterprise that would have 256
colours. 64K RAM expandable to
3.9 Mb. 672 by 512 graphics
resolution. four-voice stereo
sound, built-in joystick and a lot . lot
more for an all-in price of £200.
j More than a few people refused
! to believe that the company could
make the machine andor deliver it
I on time. Elan Computers was
adamant that it could. But this pales
into insignificance compared to the
latest credibility crisis to hit the
all-new micro maker. It is having
troubles with the Elan name.

PCS asked marketing director
Michael Shirley whether it was true

By Wend* Pearson

Businessmen with a weakness for
solder are being courted by Micro-
computer Concepts. The company
has produced a kit-form business
micro. Microbox 2. but it will also
supply an assembled version for the
faint-hearted.

The minimum kit costs £109; an
assembled machine with all the
extras could cost £1.500. but on
paper it will have many of the
features of much more expensive
systems.

These include the 68B09E pro-

Efiterpris* 64 — Flan or flim-flam?

that the company was changing its
name "Yes. We have signed exclu-
sive distributor deals in 20 countries
now and found out that we could not
use the Elan name in some of them
We therefore decided to change the
name so that the machine would
have the same name throughout the
world.'

So what is the new name then? "I
can tell you that from now on the
company will be known as Flan
Computers.' W'ould you care to

ccssor. the ‘E* version of the
Motorola 6809 chip (the B' mean-
ing it's the high speed version), and
an KK ROM that configures it for
the Flex operating system.

Using the NEC 7220 graphics
controller chip, high resolution
graphics arc 768 x 576 and its
display is 108 characters x 24 lines
or 128 characters x 72 lines.

Built into the machine is 64K of
RAM plus a further I28K for the
graphics system. This part of the
RAM can also be used as a RAM
disk storage system. It also has an

spell that? F-L-A-N But why?
"Well, some magazines have
already started to refer to the micro
as the Flan Enterprise.' (This is
thought to be a reference to a
typographical error on the contents
page of a monthly magazine. The
then editor is now Elan's software
manager.)

"Also, the company already has
an established corporate identity
and the changes required because
of the new name are minimal.'

EPROM disk If however you
prefer to be conventional, the
system also takes two 350K external
disk drives.

Microbox 2 comes with two
RS232 interfaces. Centronics prin-
ter output, parallel keyboard input,
battery driven real-time clock and
calendar on board, and built-in
software.

‘Basically it's a bare board for
people to build up themselves.' said
director Jim Rew

Microcomputer Concepts is in
Cheltenham on 0242 510525.

Spectravideo
cuts prices

Amid cries of ‘Oh. yes it is. oh no it
isn’t’. Spectravideo hascut the price
of its MSX-like 318 and 328
machines. The rubber- keyboard
3 1 8 isdown to £ 1 86 from £230. while
the 328 is down from £302 to £262.

This represents something of a
spectacular sea change for the
machines, as just a few months ago
UK distributor CK Supplies was
mooting a price increase of 3-6 per
cent. This, of course, was before it
was generally known that the
machines weren’t fully MSX-com-
patible. and that you'd need a £30
adaptor to let you run VISX car-
tridges.

On top of this, there seem to be
some differences between SV Basic
and MSX Basie MSX Basie allows
you to set baud rate, key dick and
sprite size, while SV Basic only
accommodates sprite size. There's
also the small detail that MSX
machines have a uniform prompt
screen on power up. while the
Spectravidcos 1 screens say ‘SV
extended Basic' A cartridge adap-
tor for £30 seems plausible, but a
ROM rewrite at the same time and
for the same price sounds like quite
a breakthrough.

Protek fills in

Protek has produced a cassette
interface for Commodore micros
that allows you to plug in virtually
any cassette recorder.

Until now Commodore owners
wanting to use cassette (and most
software is still cassette based) have
had to use Commodore's own
cassette unit which was in short
supply before Christmas.

The interface costs £9.95.

Self-made micro for self-made businessmen

PCS FEBRUARY 25 IWU

PCN MONITOR

Chip shortage looms

By Dsvid Guest

Several UK micro maker, stand to
have their growth stunted this year
by a chip shortage that they can do
very little about.

If you want to buy their goods you
may find that you'll have to wait: if
you already have a system it could
be that they won't be coming up
with add-ons or upgrades asquickly
as they might. This is the price of
dependence on US and Japanese
suppliers. It is a form of colonial-
ism. and far from doing anything
about it the Government is looking
at the possibility of selling the UK's
only bulk producer of standard
chips — to a US corporation.

Inmos. set up by the Government
in 1978. has so far cost British
taxpayers more than £100 million.
It has reached the stage where it
could become not only an impor-
tant supplier of various types of
semiconductors but also the source
of a new style of computer. But it is
still short of money and this has
been enough to attract the interest
of AT&T, the US telecommunica-
tions giant.

Inmos already supplies British
micro makers, with Oric being a
notable example. But in the short
term it can’t compensate for what

has become a worldwide shortage
of semiconductors.

Ultimately, this could threaten
the very existence of some UK
micro makers — it has already cost
them sales, particularly in the
weeks before Christmas, and it cats
into their profitability by playing
havoc with prices.

Sinclair suffered visibly before
Christmas — demand for the Spec-
trum surged, with Acorn unable to
produce many Electrons, but hav-
ing placed its component orders on
the strength of estimates made
during the summer Sinclair couldn't
find any ad hoc supplies to push up
its production further. Dragon was
in a similar position.

For the business micro makers
the problem is less seasonal but
more specific. The popularity of
certain types of chip puts great
pressure on the semiconductor
producers, most of whom have
been going through relatively hard
times in the last two years —
National Semiconductor, for exam-
ple . recorded a loss for the first time
in its history in 1982.

Intel, supplier of the chip that
drives the IBM PC and so many
clones, illustrates the problems that
could lie ahead for UK customers.

It is 12 per cent owned by IBM: US
analysts say that it is as even-handed
as it can be in its allocation of chips,
but the company itself admits that
when lean times hit the industry it is
the bigger companies which are best
placed to weather them. It seems
unlikely that IBM will ever be
seriously short of 8088s.

The 80186 looks set to follow the
8088 in popularity and it may cause
Intel to cat further into the millions
available to it through IBM'staking
a stake, to develop the facilities to
produce the chip in sufficient quan-
tities

It 1 1 .ic.nnst this background that
AT&T has made its move on
Inmos. It is understood to have
offered £45 million for the 75 per
cent of the company that it currently
held by the British Technology
Group(BTG). Inthis ease the BTG
is a kind of trustee for the British
public; taking its role seriously it has
commissioned US consultants to
advise it on the value of the
company, and the advice is that the
BTG shouldn't sell for less than
£2(X) million. Britain's own GEC.
opportunist and cash rich, values
Inmos at rather less than £45
million.

But the Government's apparent

inclination to sell Inmos for very
much less than its worth is beside
the point. In the interests of the UK
micro industry, and hence of UK
micro users, it should ensure that
Inmos remains in UK hands.

It should also tidy up a number of
anomalies, particularly the present
distribution of Inmos' manufactur-
ing activities, which causes the
company to be a bigger employer in
the US (at its Colorado Spring'
plant ) than it is in the UK.

To further help the UK manufac-
turers it should exert some pressure
on the EEC to sec that the current
tariff structure, which penalises
firms that import components as
opposed to finished foreign-built
micros, is altered in the local
manufacturers' favour.

Finally, it could see to it that
overseas computer suppliers aren't
given the kudos of a Royal Warrant
where a UK candidate might be
found.

This may sound like asking a lot
of an apparently inert Government.
Soil is. but it should be tackled. Nor
is it a drift towards little Englander
isolation — it’s simply looking after
number one. which the US and
Japan have virtually adopted as a
motto.

Games

Commodor*: No slur is intended on
the famous engineer in Alligata's
(0742 755005) latest offering
Killer Watt The point is to find a
dozen light bulbs in a dark
cavern. Alligala promises •im-
aginative sound effects'. Star-
cade (051-487 0808) has adapted
Savage Pond for the Commodore
64; a BBC version is due in
March. These and the existing
Atari version will sell for £8.95.

Spectrum: For the 48K. Melbourne
House (01 -9406064 ) has released
Classic Adventure, which dates
from the 1970s when its Fortran
code needed 200K. Its space
demands arc more modest now .
as is its price — £6.95. Cases
Computer Simulations (01-858
0763) has added two war games to
its range — War 70 goes back to
Napoleonic days, and Pacific
War is set around Guadalcanal.
Both of them cost £6.

Dragon: From Dragon Dungeon
(Ashbourne42529)comcs Klartz
and the Dark Forces for the
Dragon 32. It is described as a
multi-adventure, ie a collection
of interlocking parts you can
cntcrorcxitat will. ltcosts£9.95.

Atari VCS: Activision's (0628 72448)
latest offerings, each costing

£29.95. arc Frostbite for the
igloo-building enthusiast and
Space Shuttle for interstellar
overdrivers.

Education

Spectrum: With doggedly cheerful
titles like French is Fun and
German is Fun can CDS Micro
Systems (0302 744129) possibly
fail? Find out for yourself for
£5.95 each, if what you need is
something to brush up with or to
give you a start with the language
before vou go on holiday. Camel
Micros (03057 70092) lias laun-
ched 3-D Spell, which also has a
foreign element in that you can
set up lists of foreign words using
its perspective graphics and
machine code routines. Tom
Shipman (Supplies) has got the
message about its crass packag-
ing (Ouit. Issue 48) — its Map
Reading program is much more
restrained. The price is £7.95.

Business

Apricot: Peachtree's Pascal

Accounting System (PPAS) is
now available to users of ACT s
favourite micro. PPAS has five
modules — sales, purchase and
general ledgers plus-stock record-
ing and sales invoicing — which

cost £190 each. The software
already runs on the Sirius. DEC
Rainbow 100, and IBM K
Peachtree is on 0628 3271 1

Apple: I he Practical 1 1 spreadsheet
will run on the Apple 11+ and
Apple lie if you buy the software
from Micro Marketing Software
(0473 462721). Besides being
adapted for the Apple systems
the new version has 15 additional
feattuec It eocts £69.95

Unix: Logical Step's (0789 842082)
CFACC integrated accounts
program, which previously ran
under CP/M. MSDOS and their
derivatives now fits into a Unix
environment as well.

IBM PC: The Sales Edge is a US
package designed, as its name
suggests, to give you and your
functionaries a better chance in
business than your competition
— unless your competition also
possesses the Sales Edge.
Allegedly produced after ten
ycarsof research its basic aim is to
turn to advantage your good
points and to paper over the rest,
turning you into an irresistible
salesperson or executive. Priced
at £249. it is now available in the
U K from Marketing Software on
01-731 30B

Epson: For the HX-20 in the hands

of an engineer Kuma has released
the 17th element in its Dcskmas-
ter series. The program is said to
be sufficiently powerful to be
used in serious project analysis
work, involving the use of Pert
(Program Evaluation and Re-
view Technique) and CPM (Cri-
tical Path Method). Dcskmastcr
17 costs £57. Kuma is on 07357
4335.

Map Reading — latest in the Miss
Shipman series from Tom Shipman
(Supplies).

PCN FF.BRUARY IS 1984

PCN MONITOR

Musical micros in key

By Tony Sacks

Music and micros arc merging fast
and it shouldn't be long before
you'll all be able to join in.

The device that is making the
difference is called the Musical
Instrument Digital Interface
(MIDI ), and at the music industry's
annual trade show held recently in
Frankfurt you could hardly move
for it.

MIDI is a 3I.25K baud serial
connection that carries digitally
encoded information to tell instru-
ments which notes to play, how loud
they should he. when to sound the
notes and for how long, and which
'voice' to use. It can control 16
electronic musical instruments at
once.

It is rapidly being adopted as a
standard by the makers of electro-
nic instruments. At Frankfurl.
almost every synthensizer manu-
facturer was showing instruments
with the MIDI DIN sockets, and on
some stands computers outnum-
bered instruments.

The most powerful demonstra-
tion of what MIDI can achieve was
on the Yamaha stand where the
company's CX5 computer was con-
trolling a group of eight different
synthesizers, each playing a sepa-
rate part.

The CX5 is an MSX computer
with a difference. A slot in its base
can hold a module containing the
electronic voicing circuits of Y ama-
ha s £900 DX9 synthesizer, intro-
duced last year to a rapturous
welcome from musicians.

The CX 5 module, in addition to
housing the DX9 circuits, acts as a

An Apple lie takes over the keyboard
of a Seiko syntheiszer through MIDI
software . . .

... and a not so humble Spectrum
tinkles the bones via MIDI
tre hnoloKV

MIDI interface for controlling
other synthesizers. A plug-in piano-
type keyboard controls cither the
built-in synthesizer or other instru-
ments connected to the module via
the MIDI link

One item of CX5 software de-
monstrated at Frankfurt allows a
musician to use conventional
musical notation to compose an
eight-part melody lasting around
eight minutes. This tunc can then be
played back through instruments
using the MIDI link and can be
printed as a conventional musical
score

When it arrives towards the end

of the year the CX5 is expected to
cost around £550 for the computer,
synthesizer module and extension
keyboard.

But you won't have to wait that
long to control a synthesizer with
your micro. Several companies arc
developing MIDI intcrfacesand the
software which will allow popular
micros to conduct a group of
electronic instruments.

For example. MIDI interfaces
for the Spectrum. Commodore 64
and Apple II computers, with
German prices around £85. were
demonstrated at Frankfurt by Jcl-
linghaus Music Systems of Dort-

mund Software for the Spectrum
includes a £2(1 sequencer w hich w ill
store a string of 9,000 notes, and a
£50 composer program w hich will
control eight different instruments
simultaneously.

At least two British companies
are also developing MIDI hardware
and software. Electronic Research
hopes to produce a hardware mod-
ule suitable for most popular micros
by the summer. Thd projected price
is around £150; software packages
will cost around £25.

And a group of members of the
high-IO club. Mcnsa. has de-
veloped an interface and software
for the 48K Spectrum which it is
selling .is a £179 package.

MIDI software on show at Frank-
furt included several 'multitrack
digital recorders* which allow a
musician to store a tunc in a
computer's memory directly from
the synthesizer keyboard. Harmo-
nising scctionscan be added latcron
other digital 'tracks'.

Printers: NEC. best known for its
letter quality Spinwritcr. is bran-
ching out into the world of dot
matrix printers. Its P2 (8(1 col-
umn) and P3 (136 column) prin-
ters offer three printing modes.
I8(lcps for data procevsing. 90cps
for draft quality and 30cps for
'near letter quality'. Software
selectable spacing (including
proportional spacing) and a
choice of interfaces are some of
the features in the suggested
selling prices of around £700 and
£800. Further details from NEC
onOI -3886100. Cheaper, quieter
and faster than the NEC is the
Siemens PT 88i ink jet printer. It
gives near-letter quality at 1 50cps
and a version configured to print
all the IBM PC graphic charac-
ters is available from Riva Ter-
minal! at £995(0486271001)
Speech synthesis: If you tire of the
dulcet tones of Kenneth Kendall
you can now turn your Becb into
a sweet talking machine with

Sweet Talker from Cheetah
Marketing (01-278 6954) At
£24.95 it comes as a chip that
plugs into the speech socket in the
BBC and uses an allophonc
system which Cheetah claims
gives you ‘totally unlimited voca-
bulary’.

Light Pen: Datapcn (0256 770488)
has produced a version of its
lightpen to work with the Com-
modore 64. Priced at £25. it
comes with an introductory prog-
ram that shows you how to move
and place sprites, and two other

programs called Colour-Draw
and Iligh-Rcs Draw

Colour Monitor 'l ou can get colour
monitors for under £200 but
low-cost usually means low-re-
solution Now Zenith's ZVM-
133 costs £395 (+ VAT), displays
80 + 25 line text screens and 640
+ 480 high-res graphics, has a
bandwidth of 20 M 1 1/ and uses an
RGB input. Details on 0452-
29451

Cassette Recorder Banish those
loading blues with Bell A
Howell’s 3I79CX heavy duty
cassette recorder. £39.95 buys
you a machine that is not only

designed to take a heavy pound-
ing (ideal for schools .says BA H)
but is also configured to work
with the BBC's motor control,
and the Spectrum. It's available
through LVl. dealers or B A ll's
own dealers.

Robot Arm: make your micro useful
with Cyber Robotics' 310 robot
arm. The only language it under-
stands is RoboForth. an exten-
sion of Forth. But talk to it nicely
and it will rotate and pick things
up. Ring 0223-210675 for price
and further details.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

INTO A CAREER?

SALESMANAGER

Mayking Records, a successful record pressing and
audio-tape duplicating operation based in Portobello Road
W1 1 . require a Sales person to spearhead our move into
computer cassette duplication, by acquinng new accounts
and selling our duplication facility.

For a demanding and rewarding position in an exciting
market that combines creative ingenuity with business
acumen; the applicant should be highly self-motivated.
computer games micro processor enthusiast, (or be so by
their interview!) with an ability to work hard. Ideally aged
21 -28. you should have some selling retail expenence and
enjoy the prospect of working as part of a young production
team operating in the record games market. Good salary for
the nght person. Telephone or write to Brian Bonnar NOW!

Mayking Records (01)727-2614
57 Portobello Road. London W11 3DB

JLC DATA DUPLICATION

CASSETTES — DISCS — EPROMS

★ 7 YEARS’ DATA EXPERIENCE *

★ HIGH LEVEL OF SECURITY *

★ NORMALLY NO MASTERING FEE ★

★ NORMALLY 7-10 DAY TURNAROUND ★

★ 24 HOUR TURNAROUND SUPERFAST

SERVICE IF REQUIRED *

Cassette Duplication — for most micros.

Disc Duplication — 35. 40. 80 track S/S, D/S, S/D,
D/D.

Eprom Duplication — most types.

All data verified.

Blank Cassettes. Discs. Eproms — bulk sales only.
Blank Labels — most colours — bulk sales only.
Labels in sheets or rolls.

★ NEW SERVICE ★

Letter-heads and forms in rolls or fanfold for
computer printing.

Telephone: (0226) 87707 24 hours
7 days a week

Enquiries and accounts to:

JLC DATA, 49 CASTLE STREET. BARNSLEY.
SOUTH YORKSHIRE S70 1NT

in the interests ot secunty. callers without appointments or proof
of company status will not be seen.

pftwtvv tnp
Keyboard ot JoyttKh

TRAD! V
ENQUIRIES ^
Tel 10642) 604470

Sprite graphic* Synthyiound
burr Urn h.„. Codr action

CASTLE OF DOOM
Fully implemented graphical
adventure A compelling end
drviout plot avhrch retain*

VIC 20 8 Of 16K Expansion

r i* 5 -

Any VIC 20

COUNTDOWN rung
important Aecuroey atamtisi
Courage mandatory tut above
all Narva ■* the prune attribute

Paramount Software, 67 Bishopton Lane, Stockton,
Cleveland. TS18 1PU. (England)

Chocabloc £6.50 □ Name

Outback £5.50 □

Countdown £5.50 □ AOOress

Jogger £5.50 □

Castle of Doom £6.50 □

Megawarz £7.50 □

I enclose cash/cheque/P.O. for £

Overseas orders add E0.50 per item.

PCN FfcBRUARY 25 1WU

A/our/3lnin-

NEWBRAIN and SANYO

Buy from the Specialists
NEWBRAIN COMPUTER ON SPECIAL OFFER
EXPANDEDNEWBRAIN SYSTEMS
Please call for prices

"The NewBrain Dissected by John Braga £0.50 • SOpP&P
(UK)

Program tape £9.95. Book and tape £ 1 0.45 (Post free in UK)
"Getting more from your NewBrain " by Andrew Pepper and
MichelleClark £7.50incP&P(UK)

Software Technical Manual £30 + £2 P4 P ( UK) Most Cables now
instock

NewBrain Software

Please write phone tor full lists ot NewBrain hardware A software etc.

Printers Epson F XM ^C8o!mC0?F^5i™wWIO Juki Star Delta 10.

Daisy Step 2000 etc Also, the fabulous tew FT-5001 from KDC
From £199 - VAT

Recorder Sanyo DR 101 £39 • £5 85 VAT Monitors: Sanyo and Teco

New! Sanyo MBC 550 555 computers
128 256K Ram.

16 bit (8088) MS-DOS.
with a lot ot bundled software
— from £699 + VAT.

Ring us tor more details.

MAIL ORDER Free delivery UK for orders over £5. Callers by
prior appointment only, please ring us on Stevenage (0438)
812439

(ACCESS welcome) or send cheque PO Access number to:

ANGELA ENTERPRISES

4 Nmnings Lane. Rabley Heath. Welwyn.

Herts AL6 9TD Tel: Stevenage (0438) 812439 I

9 C3

Wss

DISCOUNT SOFTWARE SUPPLIES

AMAZING SOFTWARE BARGAINS BY MAIL

TELEPHONE ORDERS WELCOME 100s OF TITLES AVAILABLE

2 ATICATAC

3 JtTPAC

4 LUNAR JET MAN

5 ALCHEMIST

6 SP0NKERS

7 HUNCHBACK

8 MR WIMPY

9 KONG

10 HARRIERATTACK

11 BUG-A-B00FIEE

12 30 ANT ATTACK

13 WHEELIE MICROSPHERE £5 00

14 DOOMSDAY CASTLE FANTASY £6 00

15 CHEQUEREOFLAG PSl0N£5 95

ULTIMATE £4 75
ULTIMATE £4 75
ULTIMATE £4 75
IMAGINE £4 75
IMAGINE £4 75
OCEAN £6 20
OCEAN £5 20
OCEAN £5 20
DURRELLC5 00
OS £5 95
OS £5 95

1 MANICMINER SW PROJECTS £6 95

2 HUNCHBACK OCEAN £6 20

3 REVENGE OF MUTANT CAMELS

LLAMASOFT £6 50

4 HEXPERT ANIR0G£6 50

5 MOON BUGGY ANIR0G£6 50

6 GRIDRUNNER LLAMASOFT £6 00

7 QUINTiC WARRIOR QUICKSILVA£6 75 1

8 RING OF POWER QUICKSILVA£8 25j

VIC 20

1 JETPAC

2 ARCADIA

3 metallamas

4 GRIDRUNNER

5 KRAZYK0NG

ULTIMATE £4 75,
IMAGINE £4 75
LLAMASOFT £4 75
LLAMASOFT £4 50
ANIR0G£5 00

TEL: 01-221 1473

SPECIAL OFFERS FOR SPECTRUM
THE HOBBIT - MELBOURNE HSE £10.95
VALHALLA -LEGEND £11.95

ALL PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE ♦ PACKING SENO CHEQUE POSTAL 0R0ERS TO

DSS DISCOUNT SOFTWARE SUPPLIES

8 PORTLAND ROAO. LONDON W1 1 4 LA

ACCESS VISA WELCOME

TOP

SAVINGS

BROTHER HR 15
TRACTOR
SHEETFEEDER
KEYBOARD

EPSON RX80T
EPSON RXSOrT

Epson rxaoPT

EPSON MXI00TT
EPSON rXIOOfT
rxso TRACTOR

JUKI 6100

MANNESMANN TALLY MT 80

OKI MICROLINE SOAP
OKI MICROLINE 82A
OKI MICROUNE 83A
OKI MICROUNE 92P

SEDCOSHA CP100A
SHDfWA CP80
STAR GEMINI 10X

COMMODORE 64
COMMODORE 1941 DISK
COMMODORE C2N CA SSE TT E
tNTT ACE 64 PAREL

APRICOT 2-D- MON
SANYO MBCSM
EPSON 0X10

ex VAT

349 00

eeeo

19600

14200

21600

24200

32600

31800

43000

3000

346 00

ITS 00
17600
196 00

19631

16621

3661

9930

167600
799 00
160000

INC VAT

401 35
7820
22428
16320

24728
278 30
376 38
43128
494 90
34 90

207 00
33236
900 25
464 25

181128

91898

184000

MAYFAIR MICROS

362 YORK ROAD, LONDON SW18 ISP
01-870 3255

7 Skardon Place, North Hill. Plymouth PL4 8HA
telephone 0752 660415

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
FOR DRAGON 32

SUMSUP1 forthe5-12agegroup.

Select addition, subtraction or multiplication tables.
Select difficulty and time limit then compete against
the clock to score 20 before you run out of time.

Uses hi-res graphics and 24K of memory.

SUMSUP2Forage9upwards.

Similar to Sums Up 1 but lets you add. subtract,
multiply or divide fractions. Shows you how to work out
the answer when you make a mistake.

Uses hi-res graphics and 22K of memory.

Please send me:

SUMS UP 1 FREEP&P£7.95 Q

SUMSUP2 FREEP&P£7.95 □

I enclose cheque PO for £

NAME

ADDRESS

dealer ENQUIRIES WELCOME

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

cMor^H*

Hardware

Top Ten up to £1,000

TW

LW

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

DISTRIBUTOR

► 1

{1}

Spectrum

£99

(SI)

► 2

(2}

CBM 64

£229

(CBM)

▲ 3

(5)

Vic 20

£140

(CBM)

▲ 4

(9)

Dragon 32

£175

(DD)

T5

(3)

ZX81

£40

(SI)

T6

(4)

BBC B

£399

(AC)

► 7

(7)

Oric 1

£99

(OR)

▼ 8

16)

Atari 600XL

£150

(AT)

▲ 9

(18)

Electron

£199

(AC)

▲ 10

(13)

Apple lie

£750

(AP)

TTfrsr

'^■err

These charts are compiled from both independent and
multiple sources across the nation. They reflect what's
happening in high streets from January 25 to February 9.
The games chart is updated every other week.

Neither mail order nor deposit-only orders are included
in these listings. The prices quoted are for the no-frills
models and include VAT. Information for the top-selling
micros is culled from retailers and dealers throughout the
country and is updated every two weeks.

PCN Charts are compiled exclusively for us by RAM/C.

Top Ten over £1,000

TW

LW

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

DISTRIBUTOR

► 1

(1)

IBM PC

£2,390

(IBM)

► 2

(2)

ACT Sirius

£2,525

(ACT)

▲ 3

(9)

DEC Rainbow

£2,359

(DEC)

▲ 4

(5)

Apple III

£2,780

(AP)

▼ 5

(3)

ACT Apricot

£1,760

(ACT)

▲ 6

(— )

ICL PC

£2,065

(ICL)

▲ 7

(— )

Kaypro 10

£2,595

(CKC)

▲ 8

(-)

Wang Professional

£3,076

(WANG)

▲ 9

(-)

NCR Decision Mate

£1,984

(NCR)

▲ 10

(10)

Epson QX10

£1,995

(EP)

Distributors: AC Acorn ACT ACT Sirius AP Apple AT Atari BW
Brainwave CKC CKC Computers CO Commodore Dragon Data
DEC Digital Equipment EP Epson ICL ICL IBM IBM NCR NCR
MD Midlectron OR Oric SI Sinclair Wang Wang.

Machines: SP Sinclair Spectrum AC Acorn BBC 64 Commodore
64 V20 Commodore Vic 2081 Sinclair ZX81 DR Dragon OR Oric
AT Atari

G ames Top Thirty

GAME TITLE

PUBLISHER

MACHINE COMPATIBLE

PRICE

▲ 1 (7)

Hunchback

Ocean

SP

AC

64

V20

81

DR

OR

AT

OTHERS

£6.90

*

*

*

▼ 2 (1)

Manic Miner

S W Projects Bugbyte

*

★

£7.95

▼ 3 (2)

Atic Attic

Ultimate

*

£5.50

▲ 4 (8)

Stonkers

Imagine

★

£5.50

▲ 5 (-)

Space Shuttle

Microdeal

*

*

*

*

*

£8.00

► 6 (6)

Death Chase

Micromega

*

£6.95

▼ 7 (4)

Chequered Flag

Psion

*

£6.95

▲ 8 (9)

Flight

Psion

★

£7.95

▼ 9 (5)

3D Ant Attack

Quicksilva

*

£6.95

▲ 10(13)

Mr Wimpey

Ocean

*

£5.90

▼ 11 (3)

Alchemist

Imagine

★

£5.50

▲ 12(23)

Fighter Pilot

Digital

★

£7.95

▼ 13(12)

Lunar Jetman

Ultimate

*

£5.50

▲ 14(15)

Horace Goes Skiing

Psion Melbourne

*

*

£6.95

▼ 15(11)

Arcadia

Imagaine

*

*

*

£5.50

▲ 16(25)

Rev Of Mutant Camels

Llamasoft

★

£5.95

▲ 17(30)

Dragrunner

Cablesoft

★

£6.00

T 18(10)

Jet Pac

Ultimate

*

*

£5.50

▲ 19(28)

Birds & The Bees

Bugbyte

*

£5.95

▲ 20 (— )

Wizard & Princess

Melbourne

*

£6.95

▲ 21 (27)

Pyramid

Fantasy

★

£5.50

▲ 22 (-)

Pool

CDS

*

£5.95

▲ 23 (26)

Kick Off'

Bubblebus

*

*

£6.99

▼ 24(18)

Kong

Ocean

*

£5.90

▼ 25 06)

Valhalla

Legend

£14.95

▼ 26 04)

Harrier Attack

Martech Durell

★

*

£5.95

▼ 27 (21)

Hungry Horace

Poison Melbourne

*

★

it

£5.95

A 28 <-)

Twin Kingdom Valley

Bug-Byte

*

*

£5.95

A 29 (-)

Snooker

Visions

★

*

*

*

£8.95

▼ 30 07)

Hower Bover

LLamasoft

★

£7.50

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

\

ATTENTION

APPLE

OWNERS

Due to bulk buying we are able to offer
you the File-Fax Data Base program at
the amazing price of £57.50 (inc
VAT+ Carriage UK Only).

Also BASF 5 V 4 " Floppy Discs (S S/SD)
at £16.10 per Box of 10 (inc
VAT 4 - Carriage UK Only).

Please send remittances to

J S B.S.

Peverel House, The Green
Hatfield Peverel, Essex CM3 2JG

M.D.R.

SAVE ££s —
CONSULT
US!

Whether you're thinking of buying a
micro, peripherals, or software, for busi-
ness or pleasure — consult us and we will
advise you as to making the Right Choice.

• If you know what you want, we can
supply all hardware, software and
peripherals at a

GREAT DISCOUNT
( 10 - 20 %)

• If we can't help you, we will give you a

FULL REFUND

Write to us at:

MDR

27 Belleville Road
London SW1 1 6QS

— stating what your purpose or user-
problem is, or what particular piece of
Hardware/Software you're interested in.
Please enclose a cheque or postal order
made out to MDR for £7.25.

THERE ARE NO HIDDEN CHARGES RE-
GARDLESS OF THE AMOUNT OF TIMES
YOU USE OUR CONSULTATION OR
PURCHASE SERVICE
We will reply to your letter by phone or in
writing within 10 days, or you will receive
a Full Refund.

MDR

Credit Facilities Available

PCN FEBRUARY 25 I9R4

Don’t carry a LOAD on your shoulders,
unburden yourself on PCW s letters page.

A saucerful secrets
and how to keep them

It is not possible to protect any
program against a determined in-
terloper with a good knowledge of
maths, electronics, and a lab full of
equipment.

Matthew Platts (Routine In-
quiries Issue 47) will have tocontcnt
himself with making it difficult
enough for it to be worth no-one's
time and effort to do so. and even
then there will be 'freaks’ who enjoy
the intellectual challenge of finding
ways around his security measures.

However . in The One Handbook
Bob Maunder gives a couple of calls
which disable and re-enable the
keyboard ( E6CA and I NU| By
using these . and pour ing 0063 ( hex )
so that the program is alw ays loaded
and saved in the AUTO mode. Mr
Platts will make the freaks work
very hard.

Mr Platts should be aware, that
the sale of a secured program w hich
has a bug in it may make him liable
to refund the full purchase price,
plus the costs incurred, by anyone
w ho cannot get the program to run.
He would be well advised to consult
a good lawyer about the implica-
tions of the Sale of Goods Act and
the Trades Descriptions Act.

John Peppworth
Wembley. London

Sinclair QL’s after
sales service

The much publicised Sinclair QL
has arrived and as usual offers a
price performance ratio unmatch-
ed by its competitors. As a smalj
businessman, convinced that com-
puters will become more and more
commonplace in everyday work-
ing. I believe Sir Clive more than
any other person has been responsi-
ble for bringing the computer
within everyone's financial reach.

It may appear somewhat chur-
lish. therefore, to criticise his new
offering before a bcnchlest. The
new computer includes four busi-
nevs software packages together
with built in Microdrivcs for mass
storage. It is fair to presume that
this computer is intended for se-
rious business use therefore. How
docs Sir Clive intend to sell this
computer? By mail order It just
won't do Here for Sir Clive's
benefit is what businessmen want:

1 Reliability

2 Cost effectiveness

3 Local area dealership — with
repair facilities and maintenance.

I'll bet it won't be long before the
usual horror stories of long delivery
delays arc related through your
pages, together with teething prob-
lems and preposterous sometime-
maybe-never repair times.

Games enthusiasts may put up
with these problems but I can assure
you that businessmen won't. If Sir
Clive is serious in his intentions to
break into the business market the
above points have to be remedied.

I feel sure that serious users
would be prepared to pay more for

the hardware if specialist dealers
were given the incentive to sell his
products — the price after all is
more than competitive. As it is I
fear that software houses will in the
main just produce more sophisti-
cated games and Sir Clive will have
missed the market.

KW Halbert
Coventry

Break of service
costs Atari the set

Having recently taken the plunge
into the micro hobby. I find myself
w ith a number of questions begging
answers.

After a fair amount of considera-
tion in choosing a machine . I settled
on the Atari 400. w hich, no doubt as
a result of the introduction of the
new XL scries, was made available
at a very favourable price. I now
find that it is one of the most poorly
served machines in terms of avail-
able software, apart from that
available from the manufacturer.

Why is it that so few independent
software houses arc willing to cater
for the Atari machines, and when
they do. what makes the programs
so expensive?

As far as I can tell. Atari Basic is a
pretty comprehensive dialect, and

PCN £10 Star Letter

machine code would seem to be
reasonably easy to write by an
experienced program author for the
6502 processor.

To my admittedly inexperienced
eye. it seems as if it should be as
easy, if not more so. to write for the
Atari as it is for such other machines
as the Spectrum. Dragon. Oric and
Commodores, let alone the BBC
with its complex screen display

commands, so why the dearth of
material?

I'm not even asking for original
programs — after all. why should I
miss out on the joys of the Hobbit.
Manic Miner and similar? Surely if
these can be translated for other
machines they can be adapted for
mine.

The standard answer. I suppose,
is that I should write my own. Great
idea, and I intend to when I am a bit
more au fait with the machinery and
the language, but in the short term.
I have a family which gets fed up
with me sitting playing with the
computer while trying to learn. It
would be better to have something
other than blast-'cm type games to
keep them amused occasionally.

The Atari range is mostly limited
to arcade style games, and at nearly
£30 a time, expensive. The rest of
the market is limited . and still seems
to be twice the price of comparable
software for other machines.

Perhaps manufacturers, authors
or publishers could give me some
kind of answer.

BC Heath

Old Basford. Nottingham

We sympathise with this problem, so
we re going to help. In just a few
weeks we'll be publishing the first of
a number of anicles on program-
ming the Atari. Meanwhile, ne
await an answer — Ed.

Where’s best for
buying a micro?

Computers in this country really
have taken on now . particularly the
cheaper home micros. In fact there
are now more computers per head
in this country than Japan.

As a result of this, and of the
increasing numbers of people
buying computers, shops selling
them are increasing at an alarming
rate. This all sounds very good, but
just how good arc the shops
themselves?

The amount of everyday high
street stores stocking the basic
range of home computers such as

the Spectrum. Vic-20. Dragon and
BBC machines, is incredible.

It is obvious that major stores
want to cash in on the act. but how
efficient arc their sales staff? Are
they specially trained in computers
or not? All too often with the
mass-produced computers the odd
few (or more) may happen to be
faulty. Now. arc these high street
stores staff members as able to aid
users in their problems? I rather
think not.

To my mind you can’t beat the
specialist computer shops. I myself
has a Spectrum that wouldn't save
or load. I took it to my local
computer shop, where they spent
half an hour checking it for me — for
nothing. Therefore I knew that it
was my cassette recorder at fault
and not my computer. Can you
imagine large high street stores
spending 30 minutes checking a
computer for you?

P Smith
Cheam. Surrey-

Should computers be treated dif-
ferently to sophisticated hi- ft equip-
ment. cameras, or even washing
machines, which non-specialist
shops have sold for years? If you
want over-the-counter expertise,
then slick with the specialist shops,
but restricting micro sales to them
would be unnecessarily elitist,
wouldn't it? — Ed.

Colours run in
cross-channel epic

I had the same problem as Robert
Crowe (Routine Inquiries. Issue
46) and found a couple of cures.
First leave the AFC on the TV tuner
switched off when using the compu-
ter. You may have to rc-tunc
slightly now and again, also when
switching on.

If this method is not possible, fit
an in-line attenuator on the compu-
ter to the TV aerial lead. Finding
the right value is a matter of trial and
error, therefore a variable atte-
nuator would be best.

If this is not available, get a 2DB.
6DB and a I2DB. try them indi-
vidually. or mix and match. This
method docs degrade the picture
quality, but the true colours do hold
much better, and it's cheaper than
buying a new TV.

Finally, a plea to fellow readers. I
am looking for a super-dupa Break-
out-type program on the 4NK
Spectrum, similar to the Commod-
ore version. Can anyone help?

J V Carrana
Mitcham, Surrey

Share your thoughts in the
UK's liveliest micro weekly
letters columns. Funny, feisty
or fanciful, your letter could
win you £10 if it's of star
status.

WRITE TO: Random Access.
Personal Computer News ,
VNU. Evelyn House. 62
Oxford Street . London W 1 A
2HG.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IVK4

— L'.llnI’Hl’MTTTW

wmmtm

mmm

mm

Lost in a maze of bits and bytes, trapped in a forest of errors, bugged by Basic? Whatever the problem,
CALL on us. Our panel of experts is at your command.

Write to: Routine Inquiries.
Personal Computer News.
VNU. Evelyn House. 62
Oxford Street. London WIA
2HG.

Oric database
tape storage

III have written a database
^program for the Oric- 1 , but
I can't work out how to deal w ith
cassette file-handling. Can you
tell how I can save information
on tape?

Tint Hiorns,

Peppard, Ox on.

A How did you write the
program without dealing
with saving data to a mass
storage device?

It's a pity, because neither
the Oric nor the Atmos have
any proper Tile-handling facili-
ties (nor are these available on
the Oric disk drives).

The best you could hope to
do would be to save an array to
tape, which could be loaded in
at the start of the program if
necessary.

Machine code routines to do
this were given in the 'Oric
Owner' magazine. Issue 2 (con-
tact Tansoft, Units 1 & 2,
Techno Park. Newmarket
Road. Cambridge (02205)-
2261/2/3/4 for back issues).

There are facilities to do the
same things in version 1 . 1 of the
Oric ROM. If you can afford it.
you could have your Oric
upgraded to an Atmos: contact
Oric Products International on

(0990)-27641 for details.

If you have some £100 to
spare . you might consider ITL's
disk system. This provides
numerous extensions and im-
provements to Oric Basic, as
well as giving sequential or
random access files, which you
need for your database. Such a
system would mean that you
could have a much larger prog-
ram with more facilities be-
cause you would keep all data
on disk, not in RAM. ITL can
be reached on ( 0634 )-8 15464/
409433.

Putting an interface
to a name

Q Please tell me I he differences
between the numerous diffe-
rent kinds of interface we hear
about in PC.VdKKK, parallel,
serial, RS232 etc! apart from the
pin and socket configurations.
Graeme Tweddle.

West Rainton. Co Durham.

A Interfaces fall into two main
categories, parallel and se-
rial. These two are then split up
into different standards that
have been specified by various
international decision making
bodies over the years.

First let us define our terms.
An interface is a device or
system that allows information
to be transmitted from one
device to another, computer to
computer or computer to prin-
ter etc.

Since computers deal with

Too tough for Routine Inquiries

Nobody's perfect, and PC/V staff have a continuing reminder of
this in the shape of the Routine Inquiries page. It's not that the
answers arc wrong, but that . every now and again, we get a real
toughie. like ‘how do I interface my Aquarius to my secondhand
Routemastcr bus', and how manv angels fit on the prongs of a

ZSOchipr

So to break the routine, we've decided to throw you a few
curves. First off the mark is G M Charnick. of Hornchurch.
Essex. If you can help him. write to Subroutines, PCN. 62
Oxford Street. London WIA 2HG.

Q l recently purchased, for 50p, a computer printer from a
local junk shop. Follow ing a close inspection the majority of
parts appear to be present. There are however a number of
questions I wish to ask:

§ Have you ever heard of a printer called Comprint Model 912
made in America by Computer Printers International?

% Inside there Is a ‘Serial I ( )’ — is this an KS232 or other similar
device?

% I think it may be a thermal printer as I ha\ e found small pieces
of silvery paper inside. On pow er up the machine works for line
feed etc. hut appears to lack any printing mechanism. If any one
knows anything about this printer or where parts may be
purchased I would be most grateful.

Newbrain pages saved separately

Q I am writing a very simple
word processor program
for my Newbrain. and want to
be able to save and i.oai>
separate pages on tape. The
method I'm using is very slow
— can you advise me?

David Muir.

Bourne End. Bucks.

A lt is possible to read and
save a page line by line.
The important commands are

puts (send line) and
unput=o.a$ (read line).
puti 2 sets the cursor to the top
line. In the program listing
below, lines iooo to t#)o deal
with sAVEing.

Recovering the file is simi-
lar. and is dealt with by lines
2oqo to awo. Note that line 2010
is simply a trap, placed there
to allow you to accept or reject
a file when the filename is
displayed.

IOOO CLOSE# 1 : OPENOUT • 1 , 1 , *♦ »
lOlO PUT12:F0R«-1T099
1020 PUTS: L INPUT40, *•: ?#1 , *9
1030 NEXT* : CLOSE# 1

2000 CLOSE# 1 : OPEN IN# 1,1
2010 INPUT IF**
2020 PUT3 1 : FOR*- 1 T099
2030 L INPUT# 1 ,«•:

2040 NEXT «:CLOSE#l

* no “ T HEN2O0O

their information in parallel
blocks knows as bytes, it is
convenient to transmit and
receive data from and to a
computer in these bytes. A
system that does this is a parallel
interface. Some common para-
llel interface standards are
IEEE/HPIB (specified by the
Institute of Electrical and Elec-
tronic Engineers in the USA
and used mainly by Hewlett
Packard) and Centronics (a
common printerconncction de-
fined by the Centronics com-
pany .which manufactures prin-

ICIM

The IEEE standard allows
data to be transmitted in both
directionsand uses a definite set
of protocols (instructions
saying where the data is going
to. coming from etc). The
Centronics is for one-way trans-
mission from a computer to a
printer, again using a defined
set of protocols.

Some things to note about
interfaces is that they must
follow a set of rules that both the
sender and receiver obey and
they need a set of parallel wires
(the same as the number of bits
in the byte) to be transmitted
along. The latter limits the
distance over which data can be
sent, due to cost and corrup-
tion.

Serial interfaces take the
parallel data byte and split it
into its component bits. These
are then transmitted down a
single wire one at a time. To

help the receiver decode them,
sets or packages arc sent and
defined at their beginnings and
ends by stop and start bits
respectively. They arc also sent
at a preset speed that both the
sender and receiver clocks
follow.

The most common serial
rtandanl is the KS232 « v:a
This standard specifics the
cables, voltages and currents to
be used and not the arrange-
ment of the data transmitted.
Most RS232s in use in these
enlightened days do conform to
a data standard of sorts. The
parameters that need to be
specified are: Baud rate (speed
of transmission 75, 300. 1200
etc), parity, even or odd (these
are used for detecting errors in
the (fata i

An even parity bit is set if the
number of bits set to one in the
byte is even and vice versa for
odd parity), the data byte
length (5. 6. 7 or 8 bits) and the
number of stop bits (these
inform the receiver when the
whole byte has been received).
The advantages of serial trans-
missions are that they use a
single wire and they can be used
over fairly long distances. Con-
verting the serial voltage levels
into frequencies allows the data
to be transmitted over tele-
phone lines and hence satellites
etc

This is why printers can be
either serial or parallel devices
but modems are always serial.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IVH4

More than fun and games!

w&htheltiunten

by Primer Educational Software

T he ever-popular Mr. Men help prepare
young children for reading with four
simple and absorbing games designed
to exercise essential skills as well as entertain.

An easy-to-use, colour-coded key guide
is included with an illustrated introductory
— s book, featuring the Mr
& •• \ Men. For ages 4 to 8

/ . « \ years. Available now on

Q yf&To*) cassette for the BBC B.

V / Spectrum 48K and

1 C y Electron. £8.95

by Widgit Software

(. .wo mind-stretching, space-age games
"1 rto test mental arithmetic and nimble ^
L_ fingers.

In Sum Vaders alien robots invade the
earth. Only quick thinking and fast reactions
can prevent them. Several levels of difficulty
and a two-player game with a handicap
option make Sum Vaders equally testing for
all family members, from 8 years to adult.

Robot Tables challenges the young
player to make a series of perfect robots.

Knowing your multiplication
tables is the key to controlling the
robot-making machine. With a
learning mode and a testing
mode, Robot Tables is a fun way

for early learners, ,

and more ad- y

vanced children,

to master an

important and f*

often neglected i bkkhh
skill.

Available now on cassette for the
Spectrum 48K, Commodore 64, BBC B
and Electron. £6.95

THE CAT

M by Andromeda Software

eet Caesar, a cheeky young cat on
duty in a well-stocked larder. He’s
kept busy chasing a gang of hungry
mice eating the family’s food. Playing against
the clock, you guide Caesar along crowded
shelves to pounce on the mice.

A fast, colourful, all-action, arcade-style
game with catchy music and a best-score
record. Challenging for high-scoring arcade
addicts as well as great fun to play for the
novice. A , L

Available on cassette for the

^Commodore 64.

Prices include VAT and post and packaging
MIRRORSOFT programs are available from selected
branches o/WH. Smith and Boots, and other
leading software stockists
Trade enquiries welcome: phone 01822 3580

SOFTWARE FOR ALL THE FAMILY

To MIRRORSOFT PO Box 50 Bromley
Kent BR29TT

Please send me the tallowing (enter
number required ot each item m
me space provided) p,„

_ 1

1 enclose a cheqoe/PO tar C made payable Or please debit my ACCESS/BARCLAVCARO tar the sum olt PCNS 1

to Readers Account Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd" card no ■

Swctnim sees taciron causa 1 understand that my 1

ae*ioii (03) roai iQSi remittance will be Signature ■

fnt Sim MX •« Ur Mn iMMOI)

te»S

held on my behait in ■

Ouct Ttirtunf (OTOtl

re 95

named above until Address -

Cana »w Car (CCOt)

r*9s|

the goods are

despatched Postcode ■

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

ROM extension
board for the
BBC Micro

I

This GCC designed add-on enables the user to
increase sideways ROM capacity from the basic
4 sockets up to the full 16, which is capable of
support by the current operating system.

# Mounts inside the lid of the
BBC computer

# Normally, no soldering required

# Does not suffer from over-
heating problems

ROMS/EPROMS - accommodates 2764, 27128
and 2732 EPROMS.

Price including VAT £45.94 (+£1.75 p&p)-

Q 5

Trade and local authority enquiries welcome
Prices correct at time of going to press

GCC (Cambridge) Limited
66 High Street Sawston. Cambridge CB2 4BG
Telephone: Cambridge (0223) 835330
Telex: 81594 SAWCON

PUN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

—— «4'in i rm 1 hr-——-

Scaled a new PEEK in microcomputing? If printed your tip will earn you a fiver.

If you’ve got something to crow
about ... a bit of magic that’ll
make the world a better place
for micro users, then send it to
PCS Microwaves— our regular
readers’ hints and tips page.
We’ll pay you £5 if we print it.
We'll pa\ you even more if your
little gem gets our vote as
microwave of the month. Think
on . . . and write to Micro-
waves, PCN , 62 Oxford Street,
London W IA2IIG.

ship, or that you're going on to
the next level, have got an extra
life etc.

While the routine is being
executed (either version) hold
down a key. Even nicer eh!
Unfortunately I could not pro-
duce this without having a key
pressed.

D Rossi ter.

Paignton, Devon

BBC loses half
its memory

If you have a BBC micro with
32K of memory and w ish to test
a program to see if it will run in
I6K. entering the following will
effectively halve the memory':

PAGE ■ 0 < RETURN >

IOREM <RETURN>

Then press ( I Kl I MREAK
The message on the screen
should confirm that you have
only 16K. Unlike lowering
HI MEM. this affects the whole
memorv map and is unaffected

by BREAK

D Clifton,

Beckingham.

Doncaster, Yorks
(NB The same effect can be
achieved by using the *FX254.o
then CTRL+ BREAK. It can
be reversed, either by turning
off the machine and then on
by entering •fx2S4,23S and
CTRL + BREAK — KG)

Reward routine
for arcade games

The following is a short
machine code routine for the
Commodore 64 home compu-
ter. It is the ideal graphic
reward for gaining an extra life,
for example, and is well worth
typing in if only for a look.

After you have typed in the
program and run it a few times,
to get the same effect on the
border type, as a direct com-
mand or otherwise, poki-
7vim, 33. Alternating between
these two versions can produce
nice effects indeed, for ex-
ample:

WN SYS49l32:POKE49l63,32:
SYS49l$2:POKE 49IM.XVGOTO
9999

This sort of thing could be
used in arcade programs to
show you've hit the mother

*0 DATA 0,**I, 144,0,144,0, 144,0,
*3*. 74, **, 1*7. 14*. 33. 70*.
77*. 0,740, 3. 74, 4, !*7.*»
30 DATA *34, 144,0, *00.734, 1*4,0.
*40,3,74 *4, l*>, 74. 10.

I **0,0,0.-**

40 MAD D

30 19 D-M THIN lOO
40 m KC DA* COUNT # D
70 COUNT. COUNT. |

•O OOTO 40

too MINT • f CL t All SCMIN!

FXNISMCD TYM *DYD
44 1 37 * TO OO*

Larkingabout
with the Electron

I am glad to say that I am one of
the lucky few who has actually
got an Electron. I was playing
about with the memory loca-
tions and noticed that, if you
type ?AKE«7=: you get interest-
ing results. Trv keeping vour
finger on the RETURN key.

The Electron does not accept
*TV235 as the BBC machine
does, so if any commercial
organisations are reading this,
moving the picture down a bit
wouldn't do much harm would
it?

Philip Yau,

Aberdeen,

Scotland

Organising BBC
memory space

The BBC has the valuable
feature of being able to load
programs into any part of RAM
by setting the pointer page. In
this way more than one prog-
ram can reside in memory at any
one time. Although this works
for loading from cassette, it
does not work for entering
programs from the keyboard.
Entering PAGF.=&something.
auto, causes the machine to
hang up after the first carriage
return. The only way out is to
press BREAK which resets

PAGE.

This is particularly frustrat-
ing for users of the DFS or TFS
(Teletext Filing System) as the
system comes back with page
set higher than the usual
ALOO

The problem lies partly with
the RAM initialisation. After a

BREAK, the page pointer is
reset to the default value for the
current filing system. If the
RAM is empty, the first two
locations from page hold &D.
& FF. The first byte in each page
holds &FF and all other loca-
tions &0. Thus when page is
moved to another boundary,
the first byte is AOD fbe
simplestway of solving the
problem is to enter new after
page has been reset. This sets
up both the RAM and the
system pointers.

So if you want to enter
programs into clean memory at
a location other than the default
page, remember to use the
sequence page> .... new.
then either euto or line by line
entry.

David Abbot.

Horsham,

Sussex

Memotech LOADing
and VERIFYing

Cassette storage on the
Memotech MTX scries micro-
computers is very reliable, even
at 2400 baud. There is. howev-
er. a bug in the verify routine
which may lead one to question
this reliability. It is possible for
programs to be saved in such a
way that they will i.oad proper-
ly later on. but will not success-
fully VERIFY.

To overcome this, proceed as
follows: When ready to save a
program, first place a tape in
the recorder which has on it an
MTX program, different from
the one in memory — any will
do. Now type verify"" (Re-
turn) and start the tape. The
MTX will attempt to verify
the first program it finds on the
tape and should quickly return
a Mismatch' error message.

You may now remove the
tape from the recorder and
insert the tape onto which you
wish to save your program,
making sure that the tape is
correctly positioned. Press the
CLS key to clear the Edit screen
and save the program as nor-
mal. You should find that the
program now on tape will
verify correctly.

It is perhaps also worthwhile
mentioning that when verify-
ing programs it is always advis-
able to leave the filename out of
the command, using the null
string as above. This because
the BRK key will not function
during VERiFY;conscquently. if
the filename should be mis-

typed and not noticed before
Return is pressed then, unless
the program actually exists on
the cassette, the only recourse
is to reset the machine, losing
the program in memory.

verify"’’ can always be ter-
minated by supplying the MTX
with a different program to
verify and awaiting the “Mis-
match” error.

Steve Benner,

Colon,

Lancaster

Defining TAB
on the BBC micro

One way of putting the TAB
key to use on the BBC micro is
to redefine it using the *fx 219
command. The syntax is
*FX2i9.x where x is the ASCII
value to be returned. This key
can be converted intoa function
key by using •FX2i9.iM+n
where n is the function key
number, n should be in the
range of 0 to 15. You can now
define the TAB key using
"keyn ... as usual. If you want
TAB to act as the escape key.

try *FX2I9,27.

The escape function can be
moved to any other key using
*FX 220 ,n where n is the ASCII
code to which you wish to
transfer it. For example, if you
type *FX22o,6$ (ASCII code for
A) then pressing the A' key will
generate an escape code. This
can be useful for setting up a
safer escape key system.

J Wise,

Hadley Wood
Barnet, Herts

Escaping the loops
in Abersoft Forth

Users of Abersoft Forth will
know that once the computer
has started executing a loop,
control cannot be regained
until the loop has ended.
However, if the user defines the
word escape as follows:

: ESCAPE

?TTERMINAL I = IF
ABORT
ENFIF J

and includes this word within
any loop, control of the compu-
ter can be regained at the end of
a loop cycle by pressing any of
the Break keys. Although the
computer acts as though it has
just been warmed, the screen
contents will still be intact.
Michael Perris,

Great Bookham, Surrey

PC'N FEBRUARY 25 19H4

IS

READOUT

Suffering from keyboard finger? Take a break with a book.

‘Commodore 64: Getting the
most from it’ by Tim Onosho,
published by PrerrliceXall
International at £7.95
(paperback, 303 pages)

Yet another independent sup-
plement to Commodore's own
reference manuals to the 64 but
this is definitely one of the best .

Mere, you get product re-
views although restricted to
best sellers. The common feel-
ing seems to be that this
shouldn't be done as products
come and go. but as most
computers have a selling life of
only a year or two. why not give
the reader all the help you can?

Tim Onosko does this by

looking at word processors in
general and four of the best-
sellers. plus a good look at
expanding the system with
disks, printers, software ap-
plications and more advanced
languages.

Finally, one of the best
features of the book is a group
of three appendices by experts
in the fields of Commodore
hardware, graphics and sound:
Jim Butterfield. Paul Schatz
and Frank Covitz respectively.
Butterfield's contribution is a
tour of the 64 memory map and
how to program different con-
figurations of RAM and ROM.

Schatz gives a lucid and
helpful Ux>k at graphics,
sprites, high resolution and
character design with three
excellent programs including a
mind graphics language.

The final chapter on sound is
simply the best introduction to
sound synthesis on the 64
available. Covering not only
the hardware but the theory of
sound in easy-to-follow lan-
guage. Covitz finishes with a
handful of sound effect prog-
rams you can include in your
own games.

With a good index to tic

things up. this brings to four my
list of essential books on the 64 .
joining the Programmer's Re-
ference Guide . Pete (ierrard's
Using the 64 and 64 Machine
Code Master by Lawrence and
England. PW

*

CHOOSE YOUR OWN

COMPUTER

A GUIDE TO BUYING THE BEST
MICRO FOR YOUR MONEY

Bad

‘Choose your own computer',
edited by Peter Rods* ell. pub-
lished by Sphere Books at £1.95
(paperback. 192 pages).

This is a reasonably-priced
catalogue of most of the main-
stream micros available at the
time of its writing. There is a
new computer release every

week (at least). It's therefore
important to remember that,
with the best will in the world,
there is noway a book publisher
can provide a comprehensive
guide of this nature. It is out of
date even before it hits the
shelves.

Obviously there is no men-
tion of the new QL. but there is
mention of the now defunct
Jupiter Ace.

That said, at £1.95. this is
professionally edited, and a
worthwhile investment — just
make sure you supplement your
research material with a few
current magazines and the sales
literature as well.

The meat of the book com-
prises a tw o page spread on each
of the 76 machines listed,
complete with black and white
photo, short blurb, technical
specifications and price.

This section is sandwiched
between a short introduction on
the technologies involved at the
front and glossary of terms and
list of manufacturers at the

bade

If you don't buy it in the next
few weeks, wait for an updated
edition.

IS

5 Epson

RX-80 PRINTERS

TO BE WON

Not only do you get a free guide to printers over
the next three issues of Micropaedia. but also a
chance to win one of the best printers on the
market: Epson's RX-80. Your task here is simple:
during the next three weeks in each issue, we'll
print a list of four printing terms and four
definitions, so after three weeks you'll have 12
definitions and terms. All you have to do is match
the terms to the definitions. The first five correct
entriesdrawn will win a printer, and your entry form
will be in Issue 52. And remember, a term appearing
this week may not have its corresponding definition
in this issue.

TERM DEFINITION

Linefeed
Form feed
IMP switch

A set of special non-standard characters which can be used to generate special functions on a printer.
One of set of hardware switches that control the behaviour of a printer.

A mechanism for putting paper into a printer one sheet at a time.

A device which quickly takes information sent from a computer to a printer and holds it until the printer
can print it all.

16

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IWU

Our record stores
now come complete with ,
Hunchbacks, Hobbits
and Manic Miners.
iiMiiii i i'ta a

tt^HMVshoP

Jay Myrdal

T he Sanyo MBC 550 has been brought
out at a time when the magic words
IBM compatibility' are all the rage.
Since the machine runs MSDOS 1.25 it’s a
safe bet that there will be large amounts of
business software available for it.

The system comes with a bundle of
Micropro software that will make it very
attractive to commercial users, consider-
ing its price (£699 ex VAT for the single
drive version. £899 for dual drives), and as
a commercial machine it appears to be a
good proposition, even though it is not
directly IBM compatible.

Presentation

The system comes in a sturdy cardboard
box and is well packed with the usual
polystyrene foam that can be used over
again for transportation. There was a little
difficulty getting the system out of its box as
this is a four-handed job — I am one of
those unfortunates with only two so it was a
bit of a struggle.

Once out of its box and packing the
machine consists of two parts. The
keyboard and what the user guide calls the
‘mainframe'. This conjures up pictures of
rooms full of flashing lights and whirring
tapes. The reality is a little disappointing
and looks a lot like a video cassette
recorder.

The monitor, an RGB colour display
(with colour correctly spelt on the facia),
came in a larger box. This was a lot easier to
extract but nevertheless well packed: this
sits on top of the mainframe box producing
a neat, if tall, workstation.

Documentation

The review machine came with only one
manual . the Sanyo Operator's Guide. This
may have been a provisional- issue since
there arc a few things missing. Sanyo will
include an introduction and manuals for
the Micropro software that comes with the
machine.

There is a note in the back of the user
guide to the effect that additional manuals
are available from 'your Sanyo dealer'.
The list of additional manuals includes
such things as the Sanyo Basic and MS
DOS manuals.

The user guide contains sections on
setting up the machine, connections etc.
These instructions arc fairly good and most
people will be able to get the system up and
running without any difficulty. The only
connections that need to be made are to
plug the keyboard and the monitor into the
main processor box. Then just put the
system disk into the drive and switch on.

Also included in this volume are a
glossary of terms, Sanyo Basic and
MSDOS as well as a technical reference
guide.

Keyboard

The MBC comes with the usual separate,
plug-in. keyboard. This is set out as three
sections, the function keys on the left, the
main qwerty keyboard in the centre and a
numerical and cursor keypad on the right.

There are five function keys which can
be shifted to obtain ten functions. Basic
allows 20 keys to be programmed and.
though the manual doesn't say so, the keys

S PCN PRO-TEST |

cm-c ma

1 1 to 20 are accessed by pressing the control
key and one of the number keys at the top
of the keyboard. These keys 1 1 to 20 seem
to be used only in Basic although there is
probably no reason why they should not be
used in other system programs.

Keys 1 to 10 arc used in Wordstar to
access some of the more common com-
mands. The keys can contain up to eight
characters, enough for simple commands
but not for complex Basic sequences.

The main keyboard is distinguished by
its overlarge return key and takes a little
getting used to as the standard layout is
spoiled by some terrible positioning of
such keys as shift and return. There are

two ‘lock’ keys, the graph and caps (called
loc k). When the the latter is on (denoted
by its bright red LED) pressing shift gives
lower case. Both the caps and graph lock
keys have these LEDs but the num lock
seems to have been ignored when the
manufacturer was handing them out.

The numeric keypad doubles as a cursor
control point. From the business point of
view, the pad has all the usual operators
(■/•-+ and its own return). Unfortu-
nately these have been set out in an odd
way. with the arithmetic operators at the
top. instead of the bottom. The red break
key is situated at the top right hand corner
of the pad . This is used to pc rform t he same
as ctrl -K' and when used in Basic causes a
deep burping sound to be emitted. This is

Simulation by

KennGarrochinvestigatesthenicetiesofanalmost-IBM- compatible.

18

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1WW

the system’s 'hell' sound and invites funny
looks from other occupants of the room.

Overall, the keyboard is rather tattily
constructed and the space bar has a
tendency to squeak. This can he annoying,
or keep you awake depending on your
disposition (Sanyo told me that this
shouldn't happen and is probably an oddity
of the review machine). The bottom of the
keyboard case appears to have been made
out of tin plate, the top is plastic, imitation
brushed aluminium. The review machine
had a shocking tendency to pick up a static
charge on the bottom of the keyboard,
‘rather disconcerting’, I thought after
earthing it a few times.

It seems a shame that Sanyo couldn’t
provide a better keyboard.

Sanyo’s disk based M BC 550.

Display

The M BC 550 is able to drive two monitors .
an RGB and a monochrome. The manual
states that the output for the latter is a
connection for a ‘high-resolution compo-
site monitor’ so either this puts out a
composite video signal or is a bad
Orienglish translation. The former seems
more likely as different shades of green
were apparent on the monochrome moni-
tor used for the test.

The picture on the Sanyo RGB monitor,
supplied for the test, was steady and the
colours bright and clear.

The screen access speed appeared to be
generally slow and at times very slow,
especially with Wordstar. The graphics
available from Basic contradict the above
statement since the fill command is slick
and speedy. It looks as though the version
of Wordstar has been badly converted
from the original, as is currently the norm
for 16-bit machines.

The colours available are blue, green,
light blue. red. purple, yellow and the two
non-colours black and white. There arc
DIP switches within the main case that

allow the colour output to be altered for
monochrome monitors.

Storage

The w hole system is disk based and the test
machine was a single-drive model. The
disks used are single-sided double-density .
and a single disk supplies 1 56K of storage of
w hich 1 38K is available for use by user files.

When usi ng Wordst a r .this gives room for a
document of about 2500 to 3000 words plus
its backup. This is not a lot and it would be
nice if there were more.

The test machine having only one drive,
has its problems. It is possible to copy
whole disks using the diskeopy utility. This
asks you to exchange the disks three times
as it docs the copy and takes about a minute
to do a whole backup. This is pretty quick
but when you're used to using two-drive
systems, it is a bit tedious.

One very annoying thing about the
single-drive version of the MBC 550 was
the total lack of a facility tocopy a single Hie
from one disk to another. Sanyo say's it is
looking into this and an additional copy
utility should be available soon. Apart
from this, the MSDOS disk operating 21 ►

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DOCTOR SOFT
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Cockpit view, pilot written, instrument& visual 747
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view of Horizon/Runway (Heathrow/Gatwick). 7
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Joysticks or Keyboard option, briefing program, '
map, notes&flightplan. Demonstration approach,

4 colour — mode graphics & sound.

Only £ 8.95 inc. VAT & PP (Disc £11.95)

GORF

(PURE MACHINE CODE, ARCADE QUALITY)
The first BBC version of this superb machine code
Arcade favourite! 4 widely different screens of high
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MISSILE ATTACK

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Another well known arcade favourite, 2 player/
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DOUBLE ACTS

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Amazing value at only £6.95 per pair:

SPOOK, SPOOK:

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SPACE, SPACE:

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unlimited motion in space! MISSION ALPHA 3D
High speed action, hall of fame & music!

SPY, SPY:

KREMLIN Escape through the endless 3D corridors
of the Kremlin, aided by map & compass, but watch
for the Gremlins!

BONDSKI Lethal action as James skies down the
slope & parachutes into the void!

ONE DISK HOME OFFICE:

Complete Menu driven home office system including
WORD PERFECT, WORDKIT. LETTER, CALCULATE
(mini spread-sheet), & DIRECTORY (expandable
card file system). Supplied with detailed manual.
We believe this to be the best value package of its
kind ever offered.

Only £15.95 Disc only.

WORD PROCESSOR:

WORD PERFECT £8.95 cassette £11.95 Disc
Full facility 40/80 column word processor, wrap
around, block move, justification, word replace,
etc. With full instructions & Key insert.

DEALERS CONTACT (0903) 206 076

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE:

TALKING TABLES TEACHER (7-1 4yr old) Speaks
when Speech ROM fitted, teaches multiplication
with colourful games & questions. £6.95

COLOUR SHAPE MATCH (2-6yrold) Beautiful suit
of 3 programs teaching shape & colour recognition
with delightful graphics & sound. £6.95

WE WELCOME HIGH QUALITY
PROGRAM SUBMISSIONS AND
PAY TOP ROYALITY RATES

PCN PRO-TEST

■mnii

◄ 19 system has most of the standard com-
mands.

A final thought, while on the suhjeet of
disks, is the system clock . Don't take this as
being accurate, especially if a great deal of
disk accessing is going on. The clock is
stopped every time the disks arc accessed
making it lose time.

Software

Bundled software is becoming the ‘in thing'
and the Sanyo MBt' 550 is no exception.
Included with the double-disk machine,
besides MSDOS. are Wordstar/Mail-
merge. Calcstar. Datastar Supersort. Re-
portstar and Sanyo Basic. The single-drive
system comes with only Wordstar and
Calcstar plus an introduction.

The above Micropro packages have
been adapted from their originals to run on
this machine. The Wordstar, with which
this was written, appeared to have been
badly converted from the original 8-bit
version. It is dreadfully slow at updating
the screen, though the disk access seemed
to be about normal speed. There is no
WSC USTOM file included, instead there
is a Basic program that allows the screen
colours to be altered. An addition to the
normal Wordstar is the user definable
keys. These allow common procedures to
be carried out at the push of a button. The
contents of the keys arc displayed at the
bottom of the screen to stop you guessing
what they do.

The Basic supplied with the system
seems to be a fairly standard Micrt>soft
version, although it is called Sanyo Basic.
All the usual functions and commands are
here plus a few more such as pack$ and
unpack! which convert ASCII strings into
strings of ASCII code numbers. The
graphics facilities are good with built-in .
commands for drawing squares, circles,
lines etc. There is also a nice fast PAINT
command which makes one wonder why

Tfc* dr*k drive » on the left and a disk storage slot takes up the space normally occupied by the second drive.
Obviously a limitation with this sort of IBM MS00S concept is that though you get a reasonable number of
tried and true programs ported over by the distributor to run on the machine, you don‘t get IBM type
expansion slots which would enable you to configure some of the growing range of third party IBM peripheral
cants.

some of the other screen handling routines
arc so slow.

The documentation supplied with the
Basic is rather poor and does not cover all
of the reserved words or file handling.

The operating system is MSDOS and
will probably be one of the main selling
points of the machine. There are not many

systems of this price that run MSDOS.
giving easy access to large amounts of
business software. The documentation for
the operating system is again, incomplete:
just enough to get you going.

Interfaces

A number of interfaces arc available 23 ►

ism p/c £9.95

Thats right you could win an I.B.M. p/c when you become a member of Computer Consortium.
This competition is open to all members who have joined the consortium on or before the 30th
March 1984. The draw will take place on the 2nd of April 1984. The winner will be notified by
post.

The computer consortium has been operating in the U.S. for the past two years with an incredible
amount of success. At last these facilities are now available in the U.K. There are six very good
reasons why you should become a member of the consortium as thousands have in the U.S.

Reasons-

1/ You will have access to a huge selection of different products, which you can buy at
the same price as your high street dealer.

2/ Free delivery anywhere in the U.K. within 3-4 days.

3/ Credit facilities on hardware over 1-2-3 years.

4/ Monthly newsletter showing latest additions to product range, advertisement section,
competitions.

5/ New products being added to the range every month.

6/ Facility to advertise your used computer hardware to all members, we can even give
you credit facilities on 2nd hand equipment.

And of Course all hardware is covered by the manufacturers warranty.

Once you become a member you can buy the following products from the consortium. Star
Printers. Juki, Sanyo, Shinwa, Fidelity, B.M.C., Zappler, Olivetti, Oric, Tec, Oki, Epson,
Hermes, Kokusai, Hitachi, Cannon, Riteman, Commodore, Acorn, Spectravideo, Cumana,
C.A.L., Atari. Sinclair, + All games and software.

How do you join? Thats simple all you have to do is send off with your application your annual
subscription fee of only £9.95 that will immediately entitle you to use all the facilities of the
consortium. We will by return send you your membership number with all the information of
products, software, orderforms, & prices.

,

I Please enrol me as a member of the computer consortium. Send me my member starter pack. |

I I enclose a cheque/po for £9.95 |

I made payable to COMPUTER CONSORTIUM |

J Name I

| Address [

I

I

| Postcode I

I Send to Computer Consortium |

20 Kerris Way, Lower Earley, Reading Berks.

22

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

B pcn PRO-TEST I

EnSkmm

From the front the MBC 550 seems to owe a lot to VCR
styling. Tim roar view, however , is more familiar —
from the right ara tba keyboard socket, two video out
ports, and Centronics interface. The cutouts above
promise more to come.

◄21 including one fora joystick. On the review
machine, only the printer, a Centronics
connector, the monitors and the keyboard
interface were fitted. The RS232 link is
extra though there are fitting instructions
given in the manual. There is what the
manual terms an external interface. This
will be probably used for future expansion
for such things as extra disk drives, extra
memory and other peripherals.

It is possible to upgrade the memory
internally, from the standard I28K. in
steps of 64K, to 256K. Again, instructions
are given in the manual for doing this.
Upgrading the single-drive version of the
machine appears to be fairly straightfor-
ward. needing only the new drive. All the
connections appear to be internally avail-
able.

The MBC 550 does not strike me as a
games machine, but since it has the
capacity to use Apple-type joysticks, the
manufacturers must have this possibility in
mind or they've got mouse fever). It is true
that some games machines arc equally as
expensive and, I suppose, a business user
probably enjoys a good alien zap as much
as the rest of us (even though they arc loath
to admit that such things go on in the
industrial empires of the nation).

In use

Operating the MBC was a little odd at first
as it took a while to get used to the
keyboard (and its squeak). One thing I
would recommend, if you can afford it. is a
twin disk version. The single disk fills up far
too fast and transferring files is a problem.
The other problem is the disk access light.
This appears to go off only when the
machine is reset or drive B is accidently
selected.

One thing the mainframe does have is a
cooling fan. I arrived at this conclusion
because of the amazing racket it made. In a
noisy office this may not be too bad but in a
quiet room it sounds as though the power is
being supplied to the system by a diesel
generator with a faulty silencer. As with
the faulty keyboard. Sanyo says this is a
one-off and due to the machine being
moved around a lot.

Some of the system's good points are its
size, and the positioning of the power
switch. The former is about the size of a
smallish video cassette recorder, the latter

is at the front of the case, not stuck at the
back . You do not need to be a contortionist
to switch on the machine.

Overall the machine ran well and
without any hitches. One word of warning
to those of you who like to type ahead, the
keyboard buffer appears to be rather
limited and typing while disk access is going
on causes letters to be missed.

Support

Sanyo seems to have a dealer network
set up to cover this machine. Both Logitech
and SDC will be dealers and as soon as all
the software arrives from Japan the
machine should be up for sale.

Verdict

The Sanyo MBC 550 is a nice machine, for
the price. The fact that it includes most of
the business software anyone would need
will make it very appealing for business

applications. Most users will find the single
disk version a bit limiting and those who
have had experience with other machines
that run Wordstar etc will probably find its
slow speed a little irritating at first. This
does not appear to be the MBC's fault . it is
more the fault of the porting of the software
from other systems.

Whether the keyboard will stand up to
the hammering of constant use can only be
answered in time. After using it for a
couple of hours you do tend to adapt to the
idiosyncracies of any machine and I
suppose this keyboard is not too bad. It
could just have been better.

The main thing to note about the MBC
550 is that it is not an IBM compatible. It is
more of a cheap vehicle for standard
MSDOS. It is pretty good value for money,
considering the bundled software, it’s
ability to run MSDOS and itscompactncss.

SPECIFICATION

Price

£699 ex VAT includes keyboard, main unit.

-

Software (Wordstar. Calcstar and Sanyo Basic)
and MSDOS operating system)

8088 (3.6MHz)

RAM

HOH

1 28K (expandable to 256K in 64K banks internally )

Text screen

80x25

Graphics Screen

640 x 200 pixels

Keyboard

85-key full travel, ten function keys and separate

Storage

numeric keypad

Single 5.25in floppy disk 160K

Operating system

MSDOS 1.25

Distributor

Sanyo Marubeni (UK) Tel: Watford 46363

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

23

When you add up
micro equals ours.

You won’t find another micro offering a range of
benefits that add up like the Olivetti M20's. There’s a
choice of seven M20’s ranging from a personal computer
through to a highly intelligent workstation that can take
you into a multi-user network.

+

A wider choice of software.

We’ve designed a range of software programs that
includes general accounting, word processing, financial
planning, spreadsheets and graphics. But if you find you
need specialised software that is not available from us, the
M20 offers a choice of four main operating systems (MS-
DOS, CFyM-86, PCOS and UCSD-P*). 5) it can handle
literally hundreds of different software programs to
satisfy virtually every business or professional application.

+

True 16 bit technology for speed and efficiency.

Unlike some of its major competitors, the M20 is
a true 16 bit personal computer. So it’s more powerful
than most micros.

+

Choice of 16 printers.

As the world’s leading producers of electronic type-
writers, we also lead in computer printing technology.
We make no less than 16 printers compatible with the M20

+

The M20 can talk to other office machines.

With its own built-in communications facilities the
M20 can talk to other office machines such as typewriters,
making them intelligent word processors and printers.
And linked to a telephone and communications equip-
ment it can access Prestel, mainframe computers, receive
or send telex messages and even Autodial. So the M20
can take you further into office automation.

+

The M20 can handle new networking developments.

The M20 allows you to build a multi-user network
incorporating a massive central memory for extensive
file storage with fully integrated software for electronic
mail and text and data processing. Buildinga network like
this with any other company would normally mean having
to buy components from separate manufacturers. Olivetti
supply everything from a single in-house source.

We are pioneers in computer technology.

Our total investment in R&D is one of the largest in
the world and is committed to advancing computer tech-
nology for the businessman. We developed the first true
16 bit personal computer for under £2000 and are the
leaders in ergonomic design of computers.

+

The depth of service you’d expect from a
multi-national company.

Our distributors are the best trained in Europe.
Before they are allowed to so much as look at an M20
they are put through a comprehensive course at our
very own school. And our force of 600 service engineers
cover the entire country to give fast and efficient service.

Proven reliability in a computer marathon.

The M20 is one of the most reliable micro computers
in the world. In fact in a recent computer marathon, not
one but two Olivetti M20 micro computers ran non-
stopt day and night, for a full week without even a
single hiccup.

+

Experience that helped us become the leading
European manufacturer.

For 75 years we have been helping all sizes of
business become more efficient No other company has
this understanding of the businessman’s needs combined
with over 30 years experience in computer technology.
Olivetti is now the largest European manufacturer of
computer and office equipment So we will always be
around whenever you need us, unlike a lot of computer
manufacturers who won't even be in business in a few
years time.

+

At £1,795 it doesn’t just add up to a better
computer, it adds up to complete office productivity.

The Olivetti M20 is available now from only £1,795
or £9.88 per week to lease (plus VAT). And unlike most
micros, it comes complete with free manuals and a one
year guarantee. For more information on how to take
your business into complete office productivity, com-
plete the coupon.

the facts, no other

The M20 CQ, ju»t one of the M20 range.
Dual disc drive, high density disc storage and
colour graphics.

To: Valerie Belfer, British Olivetti, Olivetti House. 86-88 Upper Richmond Road. Putney, London SW15 2UR.
Tel: 01-785 6666. Please send me brochures on the M20 personal computer.

NAME—

POSITION.

COMPANY
ADDRESS _

*MS'DO$**t'*d«ffvirkofM«fotoftl>K ClW-tt-t t tr^temjrk ofD*rt*l Retwrch UCSOP»ytt«m * a tr»d*m*rk of «h* R*fent of th« U~v«*vty ofClMorr**. >t «tr«j*m*rk of BritilhT^ommumutioni

SANYO

MBC 550/555

+VAT

< see this issue! >

from:

BUSINESS GRAPHICS,

38 ULLET ROAD,

SEFTON PARK.

LIVERPOOL 17.

051 733 9604
telex 628783

16-Bit 8088 c.p.u.

128K RAM

— up to 256K RAM
640x200x8 colours
1 x160K disk drive

— reads IBM disks!
(2x160K drives=£899!)

FREE SOFTWARE:

WORDSTAR

CALCSTAR

SPELLSTAR

MAILMERGE

INFOSTAR

REPORTSTAR

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

Howard Kmpnonh

SPECTRUM PARAPHERNALIA

Now that you have a Spectrum, what else do you need? John Letticc makes a few suggestions.

M icros change so fast these days it
sometimes seems there's a new one
announced ever> day. never mind
every week. And it's often difficult to sort
through the information on what’s new in
micros to find out more about your own
machine.

If you’ve bought a micro recently, your
thoughts are probably turning to the kind
of games and serious software you want to
buy. and the peripherals you can get for it.
But where do you start? Over the next few
months PCN will be publishing an occa-
sional feature giving details of good buys
for the popular micros. We ll give you
enough information to get a small library of
first class software together, and we’ll tell
you how to go about buying add-ons. This
issue we check out the Sinclair Spectrum.

Software

There’s so much available in the way of
games software for the Spectrum that your
problem’s liable to be choosing rather than
finding. If you want a range of reliable
software to start with you could do a lot
worse than sticking to the official Sinclair
stuff, which was originally Psion, but now
includes a few of the choicer offerings from
the likes of Artie and Melbourne House.

Planetoids arid Space Raiders are fairly
standard implementations of the arcade
games, but Flight Simulation is one of the
best flight simulators available on a home
micro, and Scrabble. Backgammon and
the chess games can offer pretty mean
opponents, even for the experienced.

The Hobbit, from Melbourne House,
has gained well-deserved recognition by
being included in the Sinclair catalogue,
and if you teamed this up with Legend’s
Valhalla you’d probably have enough
adventure to keep you occupied for the
next few months.

Even if you don't reckon you like arcade
games you should also sample a few of the
newer ones for the Spectrum. Atic Atac.
Mr Wimpy. Ant Attack and Pssst are all
worth looking at. They show what can be
done by combining imagination, a good
machine and a sense of the absurd.

If your taste is for something slower, try
Hunter Killer from Protck. which drops
you in a sink or swim dilemma, running a
small semi-detached submarine in hostile
waters, or have a look at Great Britain
Limited, where you have to run the
country, or Football Manager, which gives
you the rather more important task of
taking the team of your choice to the top.
Both these latter are oldies, but they're still
the best of their kind.

As far as serious software is concerned,
the official Psion/Sinclair output is still
pretty reliable. Vu-Calc and Vu-File are
both far better than you’d think £8.95
would buy you. and Vu-3D provides you
with a polished facility for drawing in three
dimensions on screen.

Masterfile. from Campbell Systems, is
another reliable filing system, and goes
some considerable way towards overcom-
ing the limitations of a tape-based filing
system. Tasword 2 does a similarly effec-

tive job for word processing, and though
you won’t find it in all that many shops, it’s
well worth searching for. particularly
because it incorporates software to handle
a wide and growing range of Centronics
interfaces.

Peripherals

One of the reasons the Spectrum is a
low-priced introduction to computing is
because the basic machine doesn’t have
much in the way of interfaces. There’s no
joystick port, neither Centronics nor
RS232 interface, and no monitor output.
All these limitations can be overcome, but
it's really a question of deciding which of
them you want or need to overcome.

Your approach to buying peripherals for
your Spectrum will depend a lot on what
you want to do with the machine. If you’re
happy playing games you may well just
want to get a good joystick, and if you only
require a hard copy facility for printing out
your programs the ZX Printer fits.

Joystick interfaces

As the Spectrum was launched w ithout any
joystick facility, the older games tend not
to have any joystick control options built
in. A number of companies produced
joystick interfaces before Sinclair pro-
duced its own Interface 2, so currently
there are several different and incompati-
ble standards for Spectrum games.

Interface 2 takes standard Atari type
joysticks. It is currently compatible with
Psion/Sinclair games, and new games from

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

27

“ Leaves the Atari, Dra

and Lynx

Choosing a home computer is a bit like
playing a video game. The more you play the
better you get. So you'd expect people who
spend their working life choosing computers
to be pretty good at the game. Quick to shoot
down a tault. Pleased when they find an
improvement.

Recently Which Micro? and What Micro?
tested the Spectravideo SV 318. Here's what
they had to say:

"Every home computer coming on the
market tends to be hailed as revolutionary.
For once this really has to be true with the
Spectravideo SV 318.''

"The first cheap, high performance
computer..."

"Double precision numbers ... are ideal
for companies with turnovers under
£999,999,999,999.99."

Spectravideo SV 318 : Memory - 32K ROM expandable to 96K, 32K RAM expandable to 144K Keyboard - calculator type. 71 keys,
10 function keys, built in joy stick/cursor control Graphics- 16colours, 256x192 high resolution graphics, 32sprites Sound - 3channels.
8octovesperchannel: CP/M* compatibility- over3000existmg software packages Storage - cassette drive, 256K disc drive capacity
Suggested retail price - £186

Spectravideo SV 328 : Memory - 32K ROM expandable to 96K, 80K RAM expandable to 144K Keyboard - full word processor type,
87 keys, lOfunction keys, built in cursor control Graphics- 16 colours, 256x192 high resolution graphics, 32 sprites Sound - 3channels,
8 octaves perchannel: CP/ M* compatibility - over3000existmg software packages Storage - cassette drive, 256K disc drive capacity
Suggested retail price - £262

A full range of peripherals are also available

gon, Commodore 64
for dead.’!

Which Micro? Dec 83.

”. . . a far better job with its keyboard than
anybody else using soft keys."

. . most people will notice how easy it is
to produce graphics with the Basic."

Obviously they had more to say. And we
think you should have a look at the reports for
yourself to prove that we haven't exaggerated
their independent opinions.

"This is a BBC class machine."

"As a computer for the enthusiast it is well
nigh perfect.”

"A good micro for tomorrow"

Fill in the coupon today and we'll mail
you the reports as well as a full technical
specification brochure in colour of this
amazing new personal computer or see the
Spectravideo for yourself at most leading
computer stockists.

^KEtflR V/DF&

SV-318 SV-328

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

n

To Spectravideo Ltd. 165 Garth Rood. Morden Surrey SM4 4LM

l om interested m Spectravideo computers and peripherals Please
send me the latest reports together with a full technical specification
brochure

Spectravideo Ltd. 165 Garth Rood. Morden, Surrey SM4 4LM
Telephone 01-3300101 Telex 28704 MMH VANG

Tel No STD Code

PCN ?2 2

1

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Your Best Source of Best Sellers

◄ 27

SPECTRUM PARAPHERNALIA

quality, but its price means it’s a textbook
case of you gets what you pays for.

Storage

Interface 1 gives you access to the
Microdrive, which is the official Sinclair
storage met hod . 1 1 has in fact proved to be a
fairly troublesome unit, and Sinclair has
been amending various points of design.

With around 85K capacity per cartridge
the Microdrives are comparable in storage
to, and competitive in price with, the more
basic disk systems. The way storage is
going. Microdrives aren't likely to set the
world on fire, but if they drop in price once
they’re produced in greater volume, they
could well wean a few people off tape
storage.

Currently, the alternative to the Micro-
drive is the Viscount disk drive, which uses
100K single sided double density 5.25in
disks. Its main advantage at the moment is
it's virtually all that’s available, but the
trouble is. with the new high capacity 3in
diskettes becoming popular, it doesn’t
really shape up against the sort of
technology to be available very soon. ITL’s
Byte Drive 500. for instance, is due to be
interfaced to the Spectrum in the near
future, and is likely to set a higher standard
for storage.

Interface 1 allows you access to a cheap storage
system in the form of the Mkrodrtves, but it also
gives you a networking facility and access to an
RS232 interface.

other companies are starting to have a
facility to use it built in. The Kcmpston
interface is the most established of the
third party interfaces, and Kcmpston has
been relatively successful in getting soft-
ware houses to write it into their programs.
Kempston also produces conversion tapes
for some of the games not covered.

But you still won’t be able to deal with all
games unless you go for a programmable
interface. These allow you to specify the
keys you wish to replace with the joystick,
but they have disadvantages. You have to
fiddle with the programming whenever
you change games, and this can involve
loading an extra tape, which comes with
the interface. The Stonechip interface is
probably the easiest to deal with . but in the
long run. as more manufacturers take
account of them, you might be better off
with the Kempston or Interface 2.

Printer interfaces

Because the Spectrum doesn’t support an
80-column display, printer interfaces that
drive professional 80-column printers
cause certain complications. So before you
even think of getting an interface . you need
to consider the software you’ll be running
with it.

Obviously word processing programs
should have the facility to deal with
professional quality printers built in. but
other serious programs are also starting to
appear with this feature. Oxford Compu-
ter Publishing, for example, produces
80-column ‘Plus 80’ versions of its Finance
Manager and Address Manager programs.

As far as the Spectrum is concerned,
printer interfaces come in two varieties —
RS232 and Centronics. The official’
product is Sinclair's Interface 1. which is
actually rather more than a printer inter-
face. It incorporates the necessary inter-
facing for you to use the still fairly
legendary Microdrives, along with an
RS232. Sinclair is using the RS232 on its
new QL micro.

The problem is that RS232 tends to be
more complicated to operate than Centro-
nics. so if you simply want an interface to
produce quality hard copy, you may prefer
Centronics. Which of the many interfaces
you get really depends on what you want to
do with your printer. For word processing.
Tasword 2 allows you to produce a tailored
version of the program to work with a
range of interfaces, and the Oxford
Computer Publishing programs arc de-
signed to work with the Kempston inter-

face. In other cases you may find it
necessary to use driver software supplied
with the interface before loading your own
programs and this can. in some instances,
be tricky. But once you have sorted out the
problem of interfacing your software to
your interface, your Spectrum should be
able to do anything other micros can with a
printer.

Should you need to print out listings, of
course, you’ll need a screen dump routine
to handle user defined graphics. Tapes of
these are available for some interfaces: eg
the Euroelectronics ZX l. Print

Keyboards

With your pro printer installed you'll
quickly realise your keyboard doesn’t
come up to scratch, and start looking for
another. If you’ve tried, you’ll know
how difficult this really is. Keyboards can
be poorly designed, or they can be backing
up mail order waiting lists into the middle
distance. So buying a keyboard by mail
order is a minefield . unless you’ve seen the
keyboard in the flesh . and unless you know
you can rely on the company.

The two most commmon brands of
Spectrum keyboard you'll find in use arc
the Fuller and the DK Tronic* ranges. The
earlier Fuller model, the FD42. is an
effective keyboard, but limited by its lack
of a proper space bar and its gruesome
looks. The newer FDS has a more standard
keyboard layout . and looks a lot better, but
Fuller had been advertising it for some
months before it actually appeared at the
end of last year , so waiting lists at least were
substantial.

The DK Tronics keyboard is at least
available, and is quite cheap. The keys are
a little on the springy side . so it ’s difficult to
type at great speed. The main trouble with
the unit is there doesn’t seem to have been
much thought put into the construction.
The arrangements made for putting the
power pack inside the case arc minimal,
and if you’re not very careful you could find
yourself with a highly dangerous case of
power pack wobble. With this, and with a
number of other keyboards, possibly the
only way you’ll fit Interface I in is with a
hacksaw.

Of the newer keyboards that do take
account of Interface 1 . the most plausible
sounding is the Transform keyboard,
which is designed so that Interface 1 screws
onto the back in the same way as it does
with the original case. The Transform
keyboard is well designed and of fairly high

Software

Sinclair Research, ( ambcrlcy 6853 1 1—
Planetoids(£4.95). Space Rdidcrs(£4.95).
Flight Simulation (£7.95). Scrabble (£15.95).
Backgammon ( £5 95).Chess(£7.95).CvruslS
Chess(£9 95). VU-Calc(£8 95). VU-Fiic
(£8.95).VU-3D(£9 95)

Ultimate, Ashbvde la /.ouch (05.10) 4 1 1 485 .
Attc Atac(£5.50).P%sst(£5.50)

Joystick interfaces

Interface 2, i i 19 95). Sinclair Research.
Camberley 6853 1 1 Kempston interface. (£15)
from Kempston. 180a Bedford Road.
Kcmpston . Bedford M K4 88L

AGF Programmable interface, ( £33.95)

AGF Hardware. Freepost . Bognor Regis.

W Sussex P0229BR

Stonechip interface, (£24 95). Stonechip
Electronics. Unit9. Brook Industrial Estate.
Dead Brook Lane. Aldershot. Hants

J * « - - A - - -M - -

rnmer iiunTKC

Cobra RS212 interface. (£33 50).Cobra
Technology. 01-609 3559. Kempston
Centronics interface. Kempston. see joystick
interfaces. HilderbayCentronicsinterf ace.
(£45) Hilderbay . 01 -485 1059
ADS Centronics interface . (£34.50) ADS.
Portsmouth 823825

EuroelcctronicsL Print (Centronics). (£53.48)
Euroelectronics. Cheltenham 582009
Interface I (RS232). (£49 95). Sinclair
Research. Camberley 68531 1

Keyboards

DK Tronics, (£46.25). DK Tronics. Saffron
Walden 26350 Fuller FDS. (£42.45). FD42
(£32 45) . Fuller . 05 1 -709 4666. Transform .
(£69.95). Transform . Beckenham 6350

Storage

ZX Microdrive. (£49.95), Sinclair Research,
Camberley. Camberley 68531 1
Viscount Disk Drive. (£245). Spectrum shops.
WelwynGarden City 34761 .

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

LISP COMPUTER LANGUAGE

Kenn Garroch looks at Lisp — not a speech impediment but a language that's been around a while.

L isp (Literally Thousands of Paren-
theses ) is an old language . of the same
vintage as Algol, Fortran and Cobol.
This may be one of the reasons why it has
been neglected over the years. The
implementation dealt with in this feature is
for the BBC micro, but there is no reason
why the functions given cannot be adapted
and modified to suit other systems, as long
as the basic core of instructions is similar.

Lisp is generally known as an artificial
intelligence language. Since this is such a
complex subject. Lisp is taken to be more
complex than it really is. In fact. Lisp is as
easy to learn as any other language; you
simpy follow the rules. Its flexibility allows
it to be used in almost any application apart
from straight number crunching, though
with a little thought even this can be done.

Functions

The main drawback of Lisp is its large
and slow use of memory (in interpreted
versions). The followingseriesof functions
allows disk-based Lisp systems to access the
disk storage and execute functions as
though they were in memory . giving a great
deal more usable memory space. They arc
designed to enable lists of data to be
transferred from disk to memory easily.
They are:

NFILE. PUTEXT, EXT. FEXT and BUST.

The first . nfile . is used to initialise a new
file. The file is first set to contain a nil,
which is used as the end of file marker, lfn
passes the file name to be initialised into
the function. When the file is opened, the
open function returns the 'handle' into the
local variable hdl.

The other argument of open, nil, tells
the system that the file being opened is a
new file ( the same as openout in Basic ) . In
the same way as the Basic command
openout, the O/S does not check whether
the file exists and so will overwrite a file
with the same name.

When in use, the file is 'elastic*, ie the
more data put into it , the bigger it gets. This
may sound obvious, but if a new file is
placed after it. it can’t extend — errors will
probably ensue.

Now that the file has been created, a
function that allows data to be stored in the
correct format is needed.

This routine is putext and is used in the
following way:

(putext 'listname 'filename)

The two arguments passed into putext
are fn (the name of the list) and i >n (the
name of the file), putext is in two main
parts. The first opens the file and then
reads down it until it comes to a nil. cnti is
used to count the number of reads needed
to reach this point, and the file is then
closed and opened to 'rewind* it and set the
file position pointer to the start of the file.
It is then read cnti minus 1 times and the
list name, from fn, is written into it.

The next thing to do is to write the list . to
which the name fn applies, into the file.
This is done by attaching a Lambda list to
the local variable dum. Thus when dum is
evaluated it returns the list of fn.

Learn to Lisp

LISP DISK FUNCTIONS

NFILE li u»*d to set up a new external File. It la used in the
Form INFILE ’Filename!

(DEFUN NFILE (LFN (HDL II

(SETS HDL (OPEN LFN NILII
(WRITE HDL NIL I
(CLOSE HDL I I

PUTEXT is a Function used to place a list Into a named File. It
*• used In the Form (PUTEXT ’listname 'Fllenamei and dellned as:
(DEFUN PUTEXT (FN LFN ( DUM I (HDL I ( CNT 1 I (CNT2 1 I
(PROON

(SETS CNTI Ol

(SETS CNT2 Ol

(SETS HDL (OPEN LFN Til

(LOOP

(UNTIL (EC 'NIL (READ HDL I I I
(SETQ CNTI ( ADD1 CNTI)))

(CLOSE HDL I

(SETS HDL (OPEN LFN Til
(LOOP

(UNTIL (EC CNTI CNT2I I
(READ HDL I

(SETO CNT2 ( ADD1 CNT2I I I
(SETC DUM (LIST ’LAMBDA ’NIL FNI I
(WRITE HDL FNI
(WRITE HDL ( DUM I I

(WRITE HDL 'NIL! I
(CLOSE HDL I I

EXT la used to load asternal lists From named Files. It la used

A

In the Fora (EXT 'listname ’Filename!. IF the Hat la not preaen
then an error Mill oceurr EXT la deFIned as:

(DEFUN EXT (FN LFN (HOLD

(SETC HDL (OPEN LFN Til
(LOOP

32

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

PRICE BREAKTHROUGH

NEW CASH A
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COLOUR MONITORS

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MICR0VITEC1431
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209

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MONOCHROME MONITORS

SANYO DM21 12
SANYO DM811 2 CX

97

TORCH AOO-ONS

ZEP 100- EXTENSION Z80
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MATRIX PRINTERS

SEIKOSHA80
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382 383

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ALL OTHER ITEMS - AE)0 £10

SOFTWARE FIRMWARE FROM ACORNSOFT. COMPUTER CONCEPTS. PROGRAM POWER. A & F. LEVEL 9. etc

BBC Model B microcomputer,
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order delivery or 2 FREE cassette
games of your choice, tor cash
and carry sales.

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micro iFAST

Th» Experts

57 HOXTON SQUARE. LONDON N1

OPEN FOR PERSONAL CALLERS FROM
MONDAY TO SATURDAY. 9AM TO 6PM
MAIL ORDER OR OTHER ENQUIRIES

01-729 1778

mi

ZSEX

1

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_\

Three dimensional simulation of
the sport of orienteering. Display
is continuously updated as you
run. Ideal for map reading
practice. Instructions, colour
map .Hid l jssette £9.95

astonishingly realistic ’ Crash Micro
'exceptionally absorbing’ PCN
extremely impressive, highly recommended' Micro
Adventurer

'of interest and value’ Ed. Computing
'invaluable aid for teaching' Compass Sport

Send SAE for full list.

0 17 QT A computer simulation of
X A AA1/ X V-rXVAl/O X the sport of orienteering

48K SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM

PHIPPS ASSOCIATES

Prices include postage (outside Europe add £ 1.00 per item).

Dept N FREEPOST EM463 (No stamp)

172 Kingston Road, Ewell. Surrey KT19 0BR
Telephone 01-393 0283. 24 Hour answering.
Access and Visa cards welcome

PCN FEBRUARY 25 19K4

33

LISP COMPUTER LANGUAGE

One of the clever things about Lisp is
that functions are themselves lists — the
list is preceded with a Lambda and an
argument list, in this case nii., and ends by
producing a result. In this case the result is
the list of kn.

After (dum) — the brackets cause it to
be evaluated — has been written to the file .
a nil is placed after it to denote the end of
the file. The file is then closed.

The next routine to be defined is a
function that will extract lists from a file.
This function is ext and is used in the form:
(ext ’ listname ' filename )

ext reads the file until it reaches the
listname given in the argument. The list is
then read in and named with the listname
using set. If the list is not in the file then a
message to that effect is printed.

It. is now possible to test nfile and
putext. First enter their definitions and
then type:

(nfile ’fun)

This will initialise a file with the name
fun. Next enter:

(putext ’nfile ’fun)

This will store nfile into the file fun. The
next step is to store FUTBXI so type:
(putext ’putext ’fun) to store it. Both
putext and nfile can now be removed
from the obust or object list by entering:
(seto putext ’undefined)

(SETO NFILE ’UNDEFINED)

(oblist)

The last command will produce the
object list to check whether or not they are
gone.

Now define the ext function and test it
with the following:

iuntil

IEQ FN (READ HDS) )

(SET FN (READ HOLD)

(UNTIL

(EOF HDL )

(PRINTC

FN BLANK 'not BLANK ’In

BLANK LFN) ) »

(CLOSE HOLD)

FEXT 1* uitd to temporarily load a (unction into mamory, evaluate

It and then remove it. FEXT is used as (FEXT * (function arg arg

(DEFUN FEXT (FPAR LFN (R> )

( PROON

(EXT (CAR FPAR) LFN)

(SETO R

(LIST 'LAMBDA 'NIL FPAR))

(SETO R (R) )

(SETO (CAR FPAR) ’UNDEFINED))

R)

(ext ’putext ’fun)

Typing (oblist) will now show putext

back in the system. Asa test, use putext to

ELIST is a function that returns a list of the contents of a

store ext in fun by typing:

(putext ’ext ’fun)

The above routines can now be used to

(SETO ELIST

save memory space . The function that docs

this is fext. This routine fetches a stored

’ (LAMDA

function from the disk, evaluates it and

then removes it from the computer’s

(LFN (HDL) (DUN) (RS) )

memory. The result of the evaluation is

(PROON

given as the result. In this way it is possible

to have access to a large number of external

(SETO HDL (OPEN LFN T) )

functions, the trade-off being lossof speed.

The function fext is used as follows:

(LOOP

(fext ’( function argl arg2 arg3 etc)

(SETO DUM (READ HDL > )

filename )

As an example define fext and enter:

(SETS RS (CONS DUM RS))

(seto putext ’undefined)

(fext ’(putext ’fext ’fun) ’fun)

(UNTIL (EO DUM 'NIL)))

This function will load putext from the

disk, use it to store fext into the file fun

(READ HDD)

and then delete putext. To sec whether

(CLOSE HDL) >

this operated correctly, the eust function

can be entered, eust gives as its result the

RS)

contents of a file so (elist ’fun) will

evaluate to:

Notice that this definition is listed in the alternative way.

(nfile putext ext fext).

fext can now be used to store the

i.e. as a list.

function eust by entering:

(fext ’(putext ’f.ust ’fun) ’fun)

and the system is complete.

(save ’im) should be executed. This will Using the functions described above, it

Only the functions ext and possibly

save an image file called im onto the disk, is possible to save any type of list in a file.

fext need be kept in the system per-

When the system is booted up all that needs Make sure the files are not too long, since

manently. These should be defined, or

to be entered is (load ’im) and all of the the longer they arc. the longer it will take

loaded from fun using ext, and then

facilities stored on file will be available. to evaluate the list at the file’s bottom, rc*

34

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

MEGAHAWK

ZYLOGON

Fly the sensational MEGAHAWK through the
Abyss of Time as fearful bats and ice age
predators seek your destruction. Be amazed
as the 4th dimension unfolds itself with
awesome reality. Stretch your skill to the
limit as you leave the time corridor into a
new universe.

Seek out and destroy the Android Space
Platform that threatens Mankind. Break down
the defense of the ZYLOGONS whose huge
fortresses guard wave after wave of
relentless attackers. Fast and furious
Full colour Isometric Projection
Machine Code; Val Franco

£6-95 inc. postage
each

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME

Commodore speaks up

Barry Miles isenthralled by the
dulcet tonesof the Magic Voice.

M agic Voice, the Commodore
speech module announced at the
Consumer Electronics Show in
America, is expected to be on sale in the
UK this month.

Speech is a desirable add-on for many
uses, from program prompts and error
messages to education and entertaining
games.

Magic Voice is only the beginning of
Commodore’s plans for speech, which
include putting it into many Commodore
games, typically 100 words and 20 phrases.
The well-known arcade games Gorf and
Wizard of War will soon be accurate
mimics of the original arcade games.

A pre-release version is reviewed here,
butitisfairtoexpeetthe packaging to be up
to Commodore's usual high standards.

Documentation

The 27-page documentation is the detailed
American preliminary version, though it
may be cut down for Britain. Full explana-
tions of how to proceed are given . and even
descriptions of how to connect differenh
monitors/TVs. Programming speech in
assembly language is also covered.

Design

Magic Voice has been attractively and
thoughtfully designed with flaps on the
cartridge port and rollers for ease of
insertion.

Setting up

a The unit is supplied with a Phono to DIN
| cable, and connection is straightforward. I

PCN PRO-TEST 1

used a Commodore 1701 monitor with no
problems. Sw itching on the machine gives
the normal sign-on message . and there was
no difficulty in trying it out — although
some surprise because it’s the first time I’d
come across a woman’s voice synthesised.
Commodore says this is because children
respond best to female voices and the
module it planned is for educational use.

In use

The unit has hooks into Basic, so you can
use some new. and almost self-explanatory
keywords. Simply type say. put your
word in inverted commas, and the machine
does the rest. Clearly 235 words is a limited
vocabulary, but because the words are
produced as whole entities they are easily
understood, and sound as if said by a
person, not a robot.

The vocabulary has been made as wide
as possible within the constraints by using
some neat tricks. The sound ‘ssss’, for
example, can be used to make words
plural, and the ‘ty’ sound enables numbers
lobe linked. The soundscan be called up by
numbers or by using string variables.
data and read statements, together
with loops containing say commands, can
be used to create sentences.

You can vary the speed of the speech by
using the new keyword rath:, and you can
have a different rate for each word, which
enables you to refine the speech.

Provision has been made for program-
mers who want to synchronise the speech
via the keyword kdy; for example, you
could type if not rdy then goto io to

make the machine wait until it has finished
speaking before executing the next line.
The Commodore 64 can now execute
speech, music, and graphics at the same
time, and this form of time control,
dependent on the length of the spoken
word, is essential if the full capabilities of
the machine arc to be realised. (How about
a singing 64?)

Trying to get the machine to say
something not in its vocabulary gives the
illegal Quantity Error’. Other error
mevsages are the ‘Type Mismatch Error’,
returned if you give a non-numeric
argument to the rati, command, and new
vocabulary errors — provision has been
made to call them up once loaded.

Verdict

At £50 (compared to the American price of
$60) it is competitive with other speech
units for the 64 (all of w hich cost about £20
more than similar products on the Spec-
trum).

An interesting software cartridge for
Magic Voice, due for release this summer,
will convert text to speech.

Competition isoffered by the Commtalk
from AndOr Systems, also costing £50.
This has the advantage of using allophones
to give it a limitless vocabulary, though
they arc not as easy to use as text to speech
converters.

Magic Voice has been well designed . and
does its job attractively. It is certainly a
worthwhile addition to the enthusiast’s
tools, even more so when the converter is
released which will make Magic Voice a
winner.

Product Magic Voice MamilMtworCommodorc
Computers Meo£49. 95 incV.YI Mo cM m
Commodore 64 CMtactCommodorc dealers.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

HE’LL GROW ON YOU TOO!

PedWis the busiest gardener in Old Mexico.

Every animal for miles around wants to plunder
Pedro s garden and eat his plants, and if that’s not
enough, the local tramp will stop at nothing to get
his hands on Pedro’s precious seeds.

What with constant re-planting,
chasing away the animals and
scaring off the tramp, a siesta is
out of the question.

I OK HI
4f* SW CIWJM
COflMOOOtt 04
DRAGON i?

I1IK Model It
HfCTNON

..the name
of the game

Imagine Software Limited Imagine House, 5 Sir Thomas Street. I iverj>ool L I 6BW Tel. 051-236 8100 (20 lines).

rd, the best selling Spectrum keyboard in

im-line appearance gives you the lookand feel
oi a rcm miiTucoinpuicr neynoaru anu ncips yotlenter data with lightening fast accuracy.

The keyboard contains all the graphic characters of your ZX Spectrum plus additional function
keys. It has 4 cursor control keys, an auto rub-out key, a separate key for full stop and comma, a full
length space bar, shift keys either side and 2 function keys for direct entry’ into green and red E
modes.

The microdrive is easily adapted to go inside along with the power supply. Fixing is simplicity
itself, no soldering or technical knowledge is required. For the user who is reluctant to install his
Spectrum circuit board inside the FDS, a buffer is available (£8.75 ♦ 80p p&p) A ft ft CL
which simply plugs into the expansion port and connects directly to the A.

FDS Keyboard, allowing the whole cased Spectrum to be installed inside. ^ ♦ p.sop&p

[ PCM PRO-TEST |

PERIPHERALS

Interbeeb in control

Victor O’Neill describes how to interface your BBC micro to your household using Interbeeb.

T he BBC is not often thought of as a
controlling device, hut with a suitable
interface it can easily become one. In
practical terms your BBC could become an
anti-burglary device, control your heating
and be used for any other electrical control
functions with the help of a new interface
from DCP Microdeveiopment Systems.

The Interbeeb is a self-contained inter-
face. and can also link the BBC to
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog
converter packs. This means the electrical
signals in heaters and lights, for instance,
which are analog, can be controlled by a
computer, in which all the signals arc
digital.

Most interfaces control electrical de-
vices by outputting an analog signal. The
digital signal from the micro is converted,
and the external device reacts. Converting
the signal back again allows the effects of
the action to be monitored before the next
piece of information is sent out.

The applications mentioned above
could be implemented without the use of
an interface, but this would require you to
take to your BBC with a soldering iron —
even with an interface you might have to
use one.

The Interbeeb is versatile and easy to
use. providing a range of digital input and
output facilities and eight analog-to-digital
conversion channels, on the BBC's IVIHz
bus. A socket connection for the DCP bus
allows expansion of the interfacing facili-
ties with the DAC pack and the AD pack.

First impressions

All three devices come in smart gloss-black
boxes topped with sturdy plastic labels
which show the location and functions of
the input and output connectors, and give a
simplified schematic circuit diagram.

Inside each one are neat and well
laid-out printed boards. The Interbeeb is
densely packed onto a plated-through-
hole board, and several components, apart
from the usual TTL gates and buffers,
stand out. The 28-pin IC (ADC(WtN) in
one comer is the 8-channel analog todigital
(A/D) converter. Opposite that are four
relays used to switch higher current loads
on and off, and in the centre of the board
lies a voltage regulator attached to a fairly
large heat-sink.

Setting up

A 4<X)mm length of 34-way ribbon cable

attaches the Interbeeb to the IMliz bus.
and a separate power supply unit plugs into
a socket near the ribbon cable outlet.

The DAC and AD packs plug onto the
DCP bus — a 15-way socket on the
Interbeeb. This bus is a feed-through
connection on the two packs, so they can be
stacked end-to-end on the back of the
Interbeeb. Their powercomes from the 5V
supply rail (one of the DCP Bus connec-
tions). There’s no need (or possibility) for
hardware adjustments to the Interbeeb or
the two packs.

Documentation

Interbeeb s manual, although provisional,
is well written, taking you through each
input and output facility, giving examples
of applications in hardware, and simple
software routines. The DAC and AD
packs are supplied with single comprehen-
sive A5 information sheets.

In use

In addition to the DCP bus connector there
are five distinct interfacing ports on the
Interbeeb: 8-bit digital input and output
(both TTL). a four switch input and four
relays — each with a common line — and 40 ^

This diagram shows schematically what could
be done with the Interbeeb. Most of the boxes
shown are themselves small circuits, and they
would need to be tuned to fit the inputs of the
Interbeeb. The program reflects this in its
treatment of the analog inputs.

Coming into the Interbeeb are three signals
via the A-D channels, and four signals from the
switch inputs. The light sensor gives an
indication of how dark it is: darkness gives a
low result, light gives a high result on the A-D
channnel. The heat sensor works in the same
way, giving a low signal when it’s cold and a
high signal when it’s hot. The microphone is
similar, giving a stronger signal as the noise
gets louder. This would have to be checked
against the background noice, or scaled, so
that only exceptional noises give results. A
pressure pad and three switches give the four
switch inputs to the Interbeeb.

Controlled by the four internal relays are an
alarm, a lighting circuit and fans. The alarm
signal is powered by a 12V battery, but the
other three circuits are controlled by the
mains. For this reason each one is controlled
by a further relay, since mains switching is not
something that should be done by either the
Interbeeb on the unwary. In theory the 12V
supply could be tapped from the B8C’s disk
drive power supply, but the current could be
greater than the BBC would like.

Using this circuit you now have a wide choice
of things to do from software: You can use a
combination of fans and heaters to control the
temperature, the light sensor to turn on lights
when it gets dark, the pressure pad and
switches as a security system, or the

~L-

IMonClmril IHbrnOrclll IMamOroNI

microphone, alarm and lights as a burglar
alarm.

The circuit shown here could also be used
for other purposes — for example a deaf
person could use the microphone next to the
doorbell to flash the lights when sonemone

rings it Various combinations of the switches
could be monitored to allow for manual
switching of electrical equipmwnt from one
point.

The range is only as limited as your
imagination.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

39

◄ 39 eight analog inputs.

The digital input and output ports are
treated as 8-bit binary numbers which
Basic converts to decimal when reading
from or writing to them. The switch inputs
arc also read as a binary number, according
to whether a particular socket is connected
to the common line or not. The relays arc
easily switched on and off and can handle
loads of up to 1 A at 12V (enough for small
tamps or toy motors), or be used to
energise a larger relay for more meaty
applications. The A/D conversions are
carried out by a single chip which multi-
plexes the input signals.

Every function of the Interbecb and the
two packs is easily accessed from Basic by
simply writing to. or reading from the
device addresses. For instance . t he instruc-
tion ?&FCC2=n (n is decimal) will
generate the binary bit pattern for n at the
8-bit digital output port. The digital input
port, relays and switch inputs are all
handled in the same straightforward
manner.

The AD and DAC packs are equally
easy to use . Both feature 8-bit conversions,
and the AD pack will operate at about 10
times the speed of the A/D converters in
the Interbeeb — although both of them will
convert data much faster than it takes Basic
to read them.

A small problem came to light here: The
voltage references in the two packs
(2.55V) and the Interbeeb (2.45V) don't
match. This may not seem much, but if you

INTERBEEB ADDRESSES

INPUTS DIGITAL

rues pad-ts.fcci -1

SW2 -■’i.FCC 1-2

9W3 -TfcFCCl-4

SW4 -’VFCCI-8

OUTPUTS DIGITAL
FAN -1-TfcFCCI

HCATING -2-7WFCCI
LIOMTS -4--»0FCCl
ALARM -8-"»«.FCCl

ANALOOUE INPUTS

LIGHT SENSOP ->AFCC0*1 IN 0-293
MEAT *fcFCCO-2 IN 0-233

SOUND -»OFCCO«3 IN 0-233

INTERBEEB CIRCUIT CONTROLLER PROGRAM

give easy references to the
iim of each socket.

schools and colleges they could provide a
cheap way to demonstrate the capabilities
of the BBC beyond the monitor screen.

ModMt Interbeeb. AD Pack and DAC Pack
Mo— factarer I )( PMicrodcvclopmen(v2
Station Close . Lingwood . Norwich N R 1 3 4 AX
(0603) 7 1 24N2 Mm Interbeeb (me power
supplv)£59 95; AD Pack. DAC Pack £19.95
each. all mcVA I Outlets Mail order (add £1.95
P& p I from RH Elect ronics ( Sales ) . Chesterton
Mill. French's Road. Cambridge CB4 3NP
(0223)31 1290; schoolvcolleges Griffin and
George (01) 997 7977

were using
the Interbeeb's
converter to monitor
the response of some
external circuit to a signal
generated via the DAC pack,
you would have to scale the data in
software before you could make a
meaningful comparison. The problem
cost: a precise 2.55V reference costs nearly
five times that of a 2.45V.

The Interbeeb manual includes several
academic applications for these interfaces,
such as switching LEDs on and off. Since
these devices are likely to be widely used in
educational establishments, (in teaching
circuit design, control theory, electronics
etc) these arc useful, but not as interesting
as using the interface in the home.

Verdict

These three products are excellently
engineered; a good concept, well thought
out and professionally presented. In

S PCN PRO-TEST |

The program makes the circuit perform the following
functions: H the pressure pad is trodden on end the
three switches here not been pressed the alarm bell
rings. If the microphone is activated the lights will
flash on and off.

This can be used as a burglar alarm if the
background noise level is set low or, for example, as a
signal that the doorbell is ringing. If the light sensor
indicates that it is dark the lights come on. When it
gets light they switch off again. A time loop could be

used to leave the lights on for a limited period. The
heat sensor controls both a fan and a heating system
to maintain a chosen temperature. The program is
menu driven so that while it's running adjustments to
the circuits can be made. Extra circuits can also be
easily added to the diagram, and handled by new
procedures within the existing program structure.
Other uses for the circuits shown can be handled in
the same way — ie by extra procedure calls within
the REPEAT loop running from lines 20 — 80.

I PEN (Cl KENNSOFT I »84
3FWOCMCNU

1 OPEN MON I TOP PPOOPAM
20PBPEAT

30IF OS.FCC1 AND »l-l THEN FROCPPESS
40PPOCMEAT (FNTHEPM)

43PPOCFAN ( FNTHEPM )

SOPPOC L I OMT < F NL DP )

AOPPOCL I GMT I FNM I C t

70 IF INKEYO-*N*THEN PPOCMCNU

•OUNTIL FALSE

90DEFPP0CPPESS

IOOIF 70FCCI-13 THEN ENDPPOC

I I07OFCC1-TGFCC1 OP G:PEM ALARM

I 20CNDPP0C

1 30DEFPP0CL I OMT ( X I

I40IF X-l TMEN-»S.FCCl-7t^CCI OP 4
I43IF X-0 TMCN7fcFCCl-7|,FCCI AND 231
1SOCNDPPOC
1 AODEFPPOCMGAT I X I

I 70 IF X-l THEN TOFCC 1 -TOFCC 1 OP 2
I73IF X-IO THEN TtfCCI-HFCCI AND 293
1 OOENDPPOC
I OODEFPPOCF AN ( X >

200IF X-0 THEN 7S.FCC 1 — 7fcFCC 1 OP I

210IF X-IO THEN ’SFCC I -TUPCC 1 AND 234

220ENDPPOC

230DEFFNMIC

240-»S.FCC0-3

240IF7|fFCC0 >LEVEL THEN -1 ELSE -O

230DEFFNTMERM
2AOTS.FCCO-2
270IF-»EFCC0>MT THEN -I

273”*SiFCC0-2

2GOIFTfcFCCO< LT THEN -0

290-10

300DEFFNLDR

3107fcFCC0-3

3IOIF-»tiFCCO>BRIOMT THEN— I ELSE -0
320 DEFPPOC MENU
330M0DE 7

340PRINT* CONTROLLER"

330PP 1 NT TAD (3,4) * I Set Microphone*

3AOPPINTTABC3,*) *2. . .Set light detect*

370PPINTTAB <3 , O ) *3. . .Set heat low*

30OPPINTTAB(3 t lO) *4. . . Set heat high*

3POPPINTTAD (3, 12) *3. . .Monitor *

40OPPINTTAB<3, 13) *0. . .End*

410AO-INKEYOI0) I IF AO- * * THEN 410

420IF AO — * 0 * THEN PPOCEND

430IF AO— * l * THEN PPOCMSET

440IF AO— * 2* THEN PPOCLSET

430 IF AO— * 3 * THEN PPOCMLSET

4 AO IF AO- *4* THEN PPOCMMSET

470IF AO— * 3 * THEN ENDPPOC

4GOGOTO 330

490DEFPPOCEND

300T|«FCC 1 — 0 ! PEN TURN ALL OFF
3 1 OEND

370DEFPP0CMSET

330CLS

340PP INTT AB < 3 , A) ‘Malta found level (or
tr Ip*

330PPINTTAB ( 3 1 71 *pr eoo apace when ready*

3AO7OFCC0-3
370LEVEL — -»I.FCC0

3BOAO— INKETOtO) S IF AOO* ’ TMEN3A0

390ENDPPOC

AOO DEFPPOC L SET

A10PPINTTAB(3,6) ‘Set light level then

preoo apace*

A20’fcFCC0-l

A30BPI0MT--»fcFCC0

A40AO— INKEYO(O) I IF AOO* * THENA20

ASOENDPPOC

AAODCFPPOCLHSET

A70PPINTTAB *3, A) *Set low heat level then

ABO^fcFCCO— 2
AP0LH-70FCC0

700AO— INNEYO C 0) S IF AOO* * THENA80
7 1 OENDPPOC
720DEFPPOC MMSE T

730PPINTTAB ( 3 , A ) * Set hi heat level then
preoo apace*

740-»fcFCC0-2
730MH— TOFCCO

7AOAO— INKEYO ( 01 I IF AOO* * THEN740
770ENDPP0C

PCN FEBRUARY 25 I W4

Nobody
beats these
prices.

PRODUCT

PRICE

PRODUCT

PRICE

EPSON RX80FT

Matrix Printer

£319

Context MBA

for the HP 9816

£520

HP 9816

16-bit system

£3285

TVI910

Conversational Terminal

£350

HP82913A

12" monitor

£220

TVI970

ANSI terminal

£908

HP82937A

HPIB interface

£250

TVI 802H/10

Hard disk system

£3750

HP 82900 A

CP/M option

£250

TVI 806/10

Multi-user system

£3800

HP 87/13331

Personal productivity software

£185

TC800

Comms box for TVI systems

£750

/“\i iu i luuuuy uccua uui uciivci ico cm ici — an u icoc piuuucio ait

available now for same day despatch. So phone your order today.
For details of our complete product range, phone for our new

catalogues loo. 077*382 6811

MIDLECTRON DISTRIBUTION

Souttwm Offtce SEC Wtono Trade Centre. St Keeiem* * Ooefc. London. E 1 98A T*t 101)481 9919 T**, c<o NEC 884671
Norttwn OftVc. MaJectron Moose Nofcngfvam Road Betper Dert* DCS 1JQ Tel (077 382(68" Tel*. 377879

PCN FEBRUARY 25 |9«4

CALLING ALL
AQUARIUS
USERS! *

Now there's a User Group especially lot ! K tOi

you. For just £12 you can join the AQUARIUS ^ /l
USER club and get a monthly magazine V y N

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AQUARIUS USER is packed with information written by experts It
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If you're part of the dawning age of AQUARIUS join AQUARIUS USER

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I enclose £10 00 subscription lee for one year payable to
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A NEW SPECTRUM
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>GRAMMA8LE — Allows any joysac* position 10 rapreMm any Key -
without wires or leads or tapes'

VERSAL — Enables use ol ALL Software

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This is a top quality
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Send Cheque or P.O. to Rainbow Electronics
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Regardez !

—

4 b

l Ǥerman
fttaster

HM

Kosmos Software. I Pitfnms Close. Harlmgton. Dunstable. Beds LUS 6LX
Please supply the fotowmg programs for the computer

(BBOSPE C T RUNtfACOftN ELECTRON! (Prices include postage A pecking !

You’re on a top secret mission. Suddenly your position
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As the captain of a second world war S-type submarine
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separate controls which allow you to dive, surface,
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aircraft if you stay on the surface too long.

Every tape includes a “two computer option"
compatible with “Interface 1" allowing you to
link two computers together in a duel.

See the complete range of action packed computer
games from Protek at your local computer store.

Protek Computing Ltd, 1A Young Square,

Brucefield Industrial Park. Livingston. West Lothian. 0S06 4153S3.

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PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

PRINTERS

P rinters need more looking after than
almost any part of your computer
system.

They may be expected to outlive other
elements in the system, because general-
ly pnnter technology does not move along
as fast as the technology relating to other
components of the system, and therefore
you are not likely to upgrade your printer as
often as you do other parts of the
configuration.

Oespite this, you will be well-advised to
pay attention to the well-being of your
printer. After all. it contains many moving
parts compared with other units, and is
called upon to perform continuously for

long penods. and at high speeds. It is worth
remembering that the accuracy you ex-
pect from a pnnter is quite remarkable
To achieve that accuracy, pnnter parts
must move in a controlled fashion by very
small increments: often as low as Vfcooth of
an inch, which is extremely demanding,
especially at high speeds
Fortunately the machinery is very toler-
ant. Although you should keep your pnnter
clean and may need to oil or grease it
occasionally, the average printer doesn t
require much more attention But many
users adopt an attitude of out of sight, out
of mind', which means a lack of lubrication
and adjustment and increased wear

It is not difficult to keep the machines
clean. The first requirement is to have a
dust cover, and to ensure that the cover is
always on the pnnter when it is not in use. It
will be best if the cover is waterproof, and a
seamless version will be better for this
reason

You will be well-advised to ban all drinks,
whether alcoholic or not. from the area
surrounding the computer and its
penpherals, but that is a doctrine of
perfection. Some programmers cannot
operate unless regularly supplied with
coffee, or something stonger
Some printers are supplied with a
cleaning kit. Triumph Adlers are good for

t

MICROPAEDIA 426

PULL OUT « KEEP

1 ) There should be some form of
dust cover included with your
printer.

The first thing you have to do to
get inside the machine is to take
this off.

2) Once the cover is off the printer
you should be able to see the
print head and ribbon cartridge.
Lift the ribbon cartridge out
carefully and put it aside so you
can get inside the printer.

3) If you haven’t already taken thi
paper out of your printer, now is
the time to remove it. You’ll find
paper can sometimes jam,
particularly from tractor feed
mechanisms and that the
perforations from tractor feed
paper can get stuck in the works
of the machine.

4) Now you’re inside. Give the
front area of the printer a go-
through with a can of pressurised
air or a camera-lens style bulb
and brush taking care to make
sure that the travel mechanism
along which the print head
travels is clear and clean.

this. In particular they supply a brush with
sticky bnstles. which is great for removing
paper dust from the inside of the printer

A number of suppliers make cleaning
kits available, notably Inmac and Action,
and these contain a suitable array of
fluorocarbon isopropyl alcohol fluid, lint-
free cleaning wipes, double ended clean-
ing wands (like the ones used for cleaning
babies' ears, but much larger), and even
polythene gloves for keeping your hands
clean You simply go around the insides of
your printer using the bits and pieces with a
sensible degree of caution, and there you
are.

Previous to this you will have removed

all the usual debns which gathers in the
machine Tearing off paper fast is likely to
have left bits of paper in the machine, and it
is surprising how much paper dust can
accumulate if your pnnter is a fast one

Cleaning a daisywheel printer is a
similar task to cleaning a dot matrix
machine, but you will find you have more
space in which to work. In addition to the
inside of the machine itself, there are the
extra problems of cleaning the platen and
the daisywheels

In an ideal world there wi'l never be any
need to clean the platen (paper roller),
because you will never let the pnnter pnnt
onto the roller without any paper in
between However, the world is seldom
ideal, and accidents do happen If your
pnnter has a Paper Out indicator it will
stop pnntmg and ring the bell or buzzer
whenever the end of the paper is reached.

However, if you are using single sheets
for correspondence . as you often are when
using a daisywheel pnnter. you will
naturally switch the Paper End Detector
off. It is surprising how many characters
can be printed onto the platen before you
can switch the printer off line. This is
particularly true if you have a built-in buffer
The result is a seemingly permanent layer
of ink on the roller This is in fact easily
removable by judiciously applied methy-
lated spmts. or surgical spirit It is best to do
this in a well-ventilated atmosphere if you
want to remain unaffected by the experi-
ence

It will obviously be sensible to grease
and oil the machine with great care, and
only if the manual clearly says that this is a
sensible thing to do Adjustments are best
left to experts

Selection of ribbons is a more serious
matter than at first appears. It may seem
that you should simply buy the cheapest
nbbons available for your pnnter and stock
up for the future. This is not the best idea
Firstly, the cheapest may not necessarily
be the best Sometimes the manufacturers
supply ribbons which offer less friction
than other substitutes, and reduce wear

If you buy in bulk, you run the nsk of the
inks drying out before the ribbon is used
This is particularly likely if the ribbon is not
sealed in a plastic bag at manufacture.
Users in the London area may be able to
get same-day delivery, or at least same-
day despatch for telephone orders, so
there is really no need for carrying large
ribbon stocks at all: let the supplier do that

Some users are quite happy to re-ink
nbbons. delighting in painting the ink onto
the ribbon, having removed the lid of the
cartridge For most of us this is too mucky a
task, and not justified on cash savings
alone. If you can afford the pnnter. then
you should be able to afford the ribbons

Most manufacturers can supply refill
ribbons for putting into the cartridge.
These represent a matenal saving upon
new cartridges, and with a little practice
need not cause you to end up with about 50

metres of nbbon all over the floor.

Daisywheel printers offer a number of
additional types of nbbon. For everyday
work there is no economical substitute for
the fabric nbbon. similar to those used by
most dot matnx printers, which can be
used continuously until the image fades to
an unacceptable extent For really high
quality, suitable for the important letters
which must look as good as possible, you
will find nothing better than the film carbon
nbbon which is used once and then thrown
away. This will be expensive, but quality is
never cheap

For an intermediate point, you may find
multistnke carbon acceptable This is quite
a clever idea The ribbon moves along by
one quarter of the width of a character after
each one is pnnted. so that you have a
good chance of almost every character
printing as well as when a carbon nbbon is
used

Unfortunately, the odd coincidence of
character succession means that occa-
sionally a character almost completely
fails to print. Obviously this is only suitable
for less important correspondence Your
choice of ribbon will partly depend on
whether you can adjust the rate at which
the nbbon is fed according to the pitch you
have set on the printer.

More fundamental aspects of the care of
your printer are to ensure that it is securely
mounted It goes without saying that it will
not take kindly to being dropped, or being
allowed to vibrate off its table

There are some very good stands
available at a wide range of prices, which
will hold the printer securely, and ensure
that paper is fed to the machine, and
caught soundly as it leaves the machine
Noise levels and vibration can often be
reduced by placing the pnnter on a
rectangle of thick plastic foam

Some care is worth taking to line up the
paper between the pnnter and the box from
which it is delivered, and also to the
destination, whether that be a mere heap
on the table or floor or a catchment tray. If
you make sure that the paper is not being
pulled sideways at all. you will make it less
likely that it will travel sideways on the roller
of a friction-fed machine, or climb off the
sprockets of a tractor-fed machine. This is
I particularly important if you intend to leave
the pnnter unattended during long print
runs.

When buying your pnnter. you will be
wise to have a very careful look at the
paper transport mechanism. Examine it
from the viewpoint of both how easy it is to
insert paper, and also how easy it is for the
paper to start to misbehave.

A little caution here will save a lot of
aggravation later If your computer is
particularly sensitive to surges in mams
voltages, you mayfind it worthwhile putting
a power spike cleaner between your
computer and the mams Otherwise,
turning the pnnter on and off may reset the
computer with dire results.

427 MICROPAEDIA

PRINTERS

r

A number of different paper
types can be used with
various printers. Perhaps
the most specialised of
these is thermal paper
which is sensitive to heat
generated by the print-head
of a thermal printer. One of
the most common is the
Sinclair model.

Another special type of
paper’ (right) are rolled
labels which can be used
with continuous-feed
printers to produce many
printed lables very quickly.

The diagram on the left shows
the kind of leafed carbon paper
which is traditionally used with
typewriters to make more than
one copy of the written
product. This is also available
for printers in the form of
multi-layer listing paper which
contains two sheets of carbon
sandwiched between three
sheets of paper allowing three
copies to be printed.

|

Specially treated paper
transfers an Imprint from
sheet to sheet without
carbon. This allows you to
reduce the thickness of
paper used but is harder to
find and more expensive
than other paper types.

MICROPAEDIA 428

A wide range of printer paper is available, and
it pays you to know what the choices are. If
you use a thermal printer, you may want to
have some paper which prints black, and some
which prints blue You may also want to know
which prints darkest, because exposure to
sunlight or indeed to any light leads to fading
Paper prices are falling as the popularity of
printing increases, and the business user is the
main cause and beneficiary of the falling prices of
the standard sizes and types of paper For
instance, ordinary listing paper is now available
very cheaply.

Ordinary paper is about 70 grammes per
square metre, which is good enough for most
practical purposes, and takes up less room.

Once these basic needs are fulfilled, you may
want to go further. Merely increasing the paper
weight to 80 grammes per square metre gives a
pleasant increase in thickness and whiteness It
feels more substantial . and the print looks darker
However, it is good sense to get hold of a
sample before committing yourself, because the
paper transport mechanism of your pnnter(s)
may not be substantial enough for the job. You
will also find that paper of this weight will be
bulkier when folded, and you need to take this
into account when deciding how much will fit into
the envelopes you use.

If you need file copies of your output, you have
a number of choices to consider. You may be
quite happy to print out multiple copies on your
printer, which is fine if you don’t have too many to
produce, and the demands on your printer s time
aren’t too copious. Obviously it it easier to use

stationery which comes ready to provide more
than one copy, provided that the time taken to
remove ordinary one part paper, and to insert the
two or three-part paper, is justified.

The first candidate for multiple copies is the
use of One time Carbon duplicates This is bulky
material, and you will have a disposal and
cleanliness problem. What you buy is a set of two
or three layers of paper, interleaved with special
carbon paper which is quite good enough for one
single printing, but after that must be thrown
away, because it is exhausted. It is also likely to
get your hands very dirty, because the carbon is
only lightly attached to the paper, and is therefore
very easily detached. It is possible to obtain this
paper in up to four part format: ie top copy plus
three carbons. The is seven layers of paper,
which demands a lot of your printer.

Alternatives are readily available, in the form of
No Carbon Required (NCR) paper.

Firstly the paper is less bulky. As the name
indicates, copies are obtained without using
carbon paper The two or more layers of paper
are crimped together at the edges, with nothing in
between them In fact there is a male and
female type of paper involved. If you are using
separate sheets for this function, (a very fiddly
task), you need to order the right type. The paper
is made with chemicals trapped in the fabric of the
paper in micoscopic bubbles These are invisible
and have no effect until the pressure from the
print head crushes the bubbles and makes them
burst. The different chemicals mix. resulting in a
copy appearing on the under sheet. If you are
using three part paper, the middle paper is

PULL OUT A KEEP

female' one side and male' on the other. The carefully by the manufacturers, and is of
bottom sheet is female. particular interest to computer users. Thepointis

These papers produce very clear copies, that you can spend lengthy periods removing
especially if you correctly adjust your printer to labels which got detached from the backing
give the right amount of pressure on striking. sheet and wound themselves around the inner
There is evidence of a health hazard. People workings of the printer,
who do a lot of work with this paper in a confined There are other tricks available for the
space have suffered an abnormal level of skin speeding up of production of your printed output,
irritation, and respiratory problems, together with You may prefer to have your letterheads on
some eye irritation continuous stationery, so as to use a tractor feed

Turning to labels, it is a good idea to research to keep the pnnting in perfect registration. This
this thoroughly. Simply decide how many labels presupposes preprinted letterheads on your
you need, find a supplier who supplies in those continuous stationery, and gives you a problem
sorts of quantities, decide how big you want your so far as sending letterheads which look good is
labels, and order them. As with many things in concerned One way out of this is to have your
fact, it’s not quite so simple. You must decide normal letterheads mounted on strong carriers,
whether you want to print labels vertically, one at Some firms who do this for you. including
a time, or whether you want two or more side by mounting some of your own existing letterheads,
side Does your software permit this degree of or printing and mounting them for you as well
flexibility, or are you constrained in some way? If you prefer, you can have micro-perforated
Secondly, is the backing paper too thick for your letterheads manufactured. (Inmac do this in 5
printer? More importantly, how sticky are the days). It is difficult to see the paper was in fact tom
labels? This sounds crazy, but the degree of off. The letterheads can be supplied with a copy
adhesion is something which is designed attached, and in a wide variety of paper weights

tot* July IQ, 1984
To Robert Grant
From Elu'.it **th Rc**w*U

I k* Finance Meelin|» Agenda jB

I HH / * 1 »!•« ,,f > !. I t. II- :ii" • turn. i.» :i y. •*! j r [-• --i 1 1 S I

I 9HH ; I i Hi- hiii »t. •• r "i rn.— tan w~i: H I

f B I « - , t il- I i t: ;t, ■ •!.- :n v;n ■ lit. H j

I •••»<• I r • t : i • ' . i ■ in - '».•:• »t~ -• n».*t*y »| I

I •' I * i ».. • •• •-« t .»•••:« !• i.r. « ».*» j

Word processing is used for a characters per second, and must printed, as well as produce high wheels You should look at the total

whole variety of purposes, and the be reliable Along with many other quality correspondence from time speed Often . the rated speed is not

qualities required of your printer users, the writer should be able to to time, the answer may be a dot the important thing: if you can feed

will vary Guard against buying get along without a daisy wheel matnx pnnter with an 18-wire separate sheets into a daisy wheel

facilities which it would be nice to printer, provided the dot matnx head This will produce dot matrix- printer to exactly the nght point by

have, but which you'll never use machine will permit double stnke type output at 400 characters per pressing one button, this may be

(because the need never arises, or or other enhanced modes of second, but for correspondence more important than the ten per

because you can't be bothered to pnnting — which is good enough will cut that speed to perhaps cent or so increase in pnnting

get out the manual and master the for all but the most vital corres- lOOcps and produce print of not speed Form filling will be easily

necessary control codes ) pondence quite daisy wheel However , these carried out if your printer performs

So decide on your priorities. The practising solicitor, whose pnnters often cost more than a upward linefeeds

Your final decision is likely to be a correspondence is a professional daisy wheel and a dot matrix You may want user definable
compromise, dictated by the cur- shop window, would equally re- combined characters, so that your printer can

rent state of the technological art. quire reliability, but be less con- You should next go through the print logos on your letterhead for

and by cash . Take the example of cerned about speed: a daisy wheel various brands and models looking you You may want tractor and

an author who wants to produce is the natural choice here, probably for the various facilities you may friction feed, or you may want to be

drafts quickly, and then produce with an acoustic hood, unless you require Proportional spacing may able to buy a single sheet feeder at

attractive final versions of the are content to use one of the be high on your list of priorities, as some future time. Fortunately

copy, but still print it fast: a good slower, quieter kind, with the may be ease of interfacing with the there is an ever-wider range of

dot matrix printer, with a pleasant possible addition of a buffer micro. You may want a built-in options available, so with careful

typeface, or typefaces will do the For the business person who buffer, or italic font (typeface) built consideration you should be able to

trick. It should operate at over 160 wants fast drafts and reports in, or a wide range of cheap daisy find exactly what you want

PRINTER S

printers available
The Imagewriter printer allows
you to dump screens from both
the new Macintosh and Lisa
series of machines — and even
incorporate different sizes and
fonts of text with graphics In the
picture above you'll seen an
image generated on a Macintosh
appearing on paper from the
Imagewriter printer
Although the printers can do
some wonderful things, they
don't come cheap The
Lisa-compatible version of the
printer currently costs £423,
although the planned Macintosh
Imagewriter should be cheaper
In the circle at the top right of
this page you'll see a close-up
example of what the dot-matrix
graphics from the Imagewriter
look like. They are a testament to
what can be done with new
high-resolution printing
mechanisms

X

DOCUMENT

D ot matrix is the form of printout generally
associated with computers.

Usually' the dots making up the letters are
visibly separate. Usually is the operative word
because major improvements have occurred
recently on printer technology, and the output
from dot matrix printers can now be very
attractive, and a far remove from the sort of
personalised appallingly-printed junk mail,
which drops though our letterboxes
The competition among printer manufacturers
is fierce, with the Japanese, notable copiers of
other people's ideas, going great guns. And it's
all good news for the user
This competition means even cheaper prin-
ters. with ever more facilites. It also ensures a
healthy second-hand market as printers become
available from enthusiast determined to have the
best, or at least the latest
With a bewildering variety of printers available

! you are in danger of becoming spoilt for choice. A
plan is needed The industrial espionage
business seems to be flourishing in the printer
area, which is leading to a degree of rationalisa-
tion of design.

Reliability must be high on the list of
requirements By their very nature, dot-matrix
printers are the workhorses of computer output.
You expect to be able to run them continuously
hour after hour, and not to overheat, or break
down. For this purpose you will want to go for
well-known makes which have been around for
some time.

Another major requirement is that the paper
transport mechanism is absolutely reliable.
Nothing is more infuriating than to have the paper
climb off the sprockets, and a paper jam develop.
This can be serious, because the paper is being
fed at fairly high speed through the printer, and if it
all starts to build up inside the machine, the

WTf iU:h

MICROPAEDIA 430

PULL OUT & KEEP

potential for damage is high. You must be sure
that the weight of paper which you wish to use.
and in particular the number of sheets you
require, can be accommodated

The charactenstics of dot matrix printers must
be studied carefully if you are to get what you
want out of them. It helps if you understand a little
of how they work. Essentially, this is simple,
though the electronic and mechanical way in
which the functions are achieved represent the
highest design skill. Printing is achieved by
impact, ie the ink on the ribbon is transferred to
the paper by means of needles or wires, which
are propelled forward by electromagnetic force
The nbbon is in a large cartridge, which is usually
re-usable. It is continuous, and therefore does
not run out. but merely becomes fainter with use

There is at least one dot matrix printer, which
comes with a carbon ribbon as standard This is
excellent for a while, but as soon as it starts on its
second trip through the machine, it produces
appalling quality print, so users will always need
a good supply of spare ribbons.

Characters are not printed by a single blow, as
with a typewriter, instead they are built up by a
senes of blows from a vertical row of wires The
numbers of wires varies, conventionally 7 or 9
wires, but some more expensive machines offer
18 wires. The software controls which wires are
activated at any one time, and the character is
made up of a number of impressions, usually 8.
Because of the way the characters are produced .
sophisticated software can offer more than one
character set . It is common now for you to be able
to print characters 10 to the inch. 12 to the inch
and 16.5 to the inch. Double-width characters,
though the same height as normal, are also often
available

Frequently the character sets are different for
the various pitches just mentioned, and of course
this is essential when the 16.5 characters to the
inch version is being used. Twelve characters to
the inch is known as elite and is very suitable for
correspondence

In the fierce fight for a share in the printer
market . the producers vie with one another to see
who can provide the most facilities. You must
decide which of the new facilities are really of
interest to you in your plans for your machine.
Some of the facilities are gimmicks which you use
briefly, and never use again — like the
electrically-operated door mirrors on some cars.

If only one driver uses the car, the setting of the
mirrors will be done once, and only varied
occasionally for parking perhaps If the car is
used by more than one driver, of different stature,
the mirrors will be adjusted with every change of
driver, and the apparent gimmick becomes a
really worthwhile accessory. It's the same with
printer settings.

Only you can decide on the desirability of some
of the more specialised facilities: do you really
need to be able to design 255 new characters for
your own special use? If the pnnter offers this will
you bother to take the time to actually do the
work? Do you want to use italics in your printer? If
so. is the italic character set sufficiently attractive
to make this a worthwhile option?

Will you be using your printer for correspond-
ence? If so. will you want to be able to choose
between Double strike (which prints twice on the

same spot) or Enhanced (which typically moves
the print head part of a dot. so that the second
impression is slightly offset from the first), giving
something approaching the quality of print
associated with Daisywheel printers?

If you are going to use your printer for important
letters, do you need a pnnter which offers
proportional spacing (where the printer vanes
the gaps between letters according to the width of
neighbouring letter)? Do you really need a whole
variety of Bit image graphics so that your printer
can print out pictures of whatever is on your
screen in high-resolution graphics? Do you need
to be able to print underlines?

| The noise level of the pnnter is also important
I Acoustic hoods which suppress the noise of the

A number of popular dot matrix
printers — from top. looking left
to right: the Epson RX-80. the
Epson FX-80. the Mannesmann
Tally Spirit-80 and the Walters
WM80

The RX-80 and FX-80 are
replacements for the popular MX
series of Epson printers

The Mannesmann Tally and
Walters printers both sell for less
than £300 and offer true
descenders, graphics modes, as
well as condensed and enlarged
print.

431 MICROPAEDIA

pRitjm

There are a number of factors
you'll want to take into consid-
eration when buying a pnnter,
and they all relate to what you
want to do with the printer and
how much you want to spend.

• If you want to use the printer
to fill out preprinted forms, ask
whether it handles vertical
tabulations, upwards and
downwards, or at a minimum,
upwards line feeds.

• The variety of paper-hand-
ling facilities is often important.
Some printers handle con-
tinuous stationery, single
sheets and paper rolls as
standard. With others the deal-
ing is selected on purchase,
and to add versatility after-
wards is often expensive.

• If you consider a cheap
printer, examine samples of the
printout. This is always impor-
tant, but at the lower-priced end
of the market you are in danger
of buying a machine where the
descenders, (the bottom of the
letters which go below the line)
do not dip below the line,
because the head does not
have enough wires to do it.
Such print is tiring to read

• Look carefully at the ques-
tion of interlacing with your
computer. Be absolutely cer-
tain, or you will find yourself
paying almost as much for a
suitable interface as you paid
for the printer.

Some
produ

'

Among thoao are Atari (see left
photo) and Commodore (see right
photo).

printer exist, but as these cost as much as the
average dot matrix printer, you may prefer a
printer which is not too noisy in the first place
Some printers can be switched in software to
operate at less than their normal speed, to give a
degree of noise reduction, though the reduction
is far from proportional to the reduction in speed

Multi-speed printers are an interesting possi-
bility It is possible to buy a machine which will
print flat out at 400 characters per second in draft
mode, using only a few of its wires (typically 1 8).
and to slow it down progressively to the point
where it is going at a mere fraction of that speed,
but using all its tricks to leave the uninitiated, or
the incurious, oblivious that a dot matrix printer
has been used.

This is the Rolls Royce of dot matrix printers,
but you will be well advised to think long and hard
about its price, which can be well over £2000.
whereas a typical 80-column dot matrix printer

costs only £300 to £500

You need to consider the size of paper which
the pnnter is to use. The standard printer prints 80
characters across the 8in width of normal listing
paper The use of the closer pitches already
talked about will increase this typically to the
maximum of 132 characters. This may well be
enough However, you may want to print out your
material on the wider paper over 13 inches
wide — in which case your printer choice will be
limited to those which accommodate this. If you
do a lot of work on schedules, perhaps using
spreadsheets, this could be particularly impor-
tant.

Ease of operation of the printer is always a
factor to consider This includes the insertion and
removal of paper, the setting of the dip switches
which control the various modes of operation,
and the control codes necessary for changes in
mode of operation from software

Micropaedia Editor: Geof Wheelwright
Design: Nigel Wingrove
Contributor: Barry Miles
Illustrations: John Hallett
Cover photo: Monica Curtain
Model: Becky Swift

NEXT WEEK

We continue our examination of printers and printing technology with a look at daisywheel
printers, using printers for word processing and the kinds of peripherals you can get for your
printer

And in two weeks, we ll look at ink-jet and colour printers as well as take a peek at plotters

MICROPAEDIA 432

ORIC & B.B.C. OWNERS-
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time of only 3ms, Byte Drive 500
opens up a new era of computing
capability for the more ambitious
user.

Byte Drive 500 is compact

economically priced and easy to
operate. Systems will shortly be
available to interface with Dragon.
Spectrum and Vic computers.

The full D.O.S. included in the
price consists of :

3" F.D.D. Unit

-* Power supply unit & mains cable

■fc A single P.S.U. can power 2 drives.

Byte Drive 500 is available from most quality computer retailers. In case of difficulty contact:
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Hybrid interface cable
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COLOUR- „

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Logic seeking in
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Specifications
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1 PCN PRO-TEST

S<

Follow

that code

Machine Code T race offers much more than its name implies.
Simon Williams isenthusiastic.

W hen developing a machine code
program, it can be useful to be
able to insert breakpoints in the
code or to single step through the opcodes.
It would be an added bonus to be able to
view the program under development at
the same time as keeping an eye on the
status of various registers and the stack.
Machine Code Trace offers these facilities
and more.

Features

The program can maintain two screens
where one shows the current status of the
user's program, including any graphic
screens, and the other displays details
normally provided by a good machine code
monitor. Functions to view, alter, dis-
assemble and single-step through machine
code routines are also available.

Presentation

The program is on cassette, with a 20 page
manual , which includes all loading instruc-
tions. The manual is produced on a
daisywheel printer and is clear and concise
both in presentation and content. It
includes the listing of a short machine code
program used to demonstrate the various
features of Machine Code Trace.

In use

Machine Code Trace is preceded by an
Initialisation program which sets up the
machine to load the main routine. You
can specify the run address of the code and
the manual has suggestions for optimum
positioning of the code when employing
the various screen modes of the BBC. The
program is 2.75K long and uses &D00 to
&D9E as workspace and a IK area of
memory below the current screen to house
the Trace screen.

The main display offered on the Trace
screen shows the contents of the 6502
registers, the positions of any breakpoint
set and a 16-byte window on the proces-
sor’s stack. The current position of the
stack pointer is highlighted in colour. The
user prompt throughout the program is a
query, displayed near the bottom of the
screen. All commands within the program
follow the same format and use a single
letter followed by one or two addresses in
hex. Entry is very user-friendly consider-
ing the brevity required of a monitor. The
program inserts necessary spaces between
commands and addresses and the *&'
prefix may be omitted throughout.

The command ‘L addr’ invokes a single
line disassembler which gives the current
address, opcode, any branch address
(highlighted in colour), assembler mnem-
onic and any ASCII character that can be
obtained from the code. These characters
are colour coded to show control codes and
the setting of bit 7 within the byte. Pressing
the space bar disassembles the next opcode
and a window of three lines is maintained at
the bottom of the screen.

T addr' traces through the program
from the start address given , disassembling
each instruction on the Trace screen, at the
same time as executing it on the user
screen. Pressing TAB will toggle between
the two screens.

‘D addr' displays a memory location and

its contents. The locations may be selected
from anywhere in memory and need not
run consecutively. When running Trace,
these locations will be continuously up-
dated. This facility is very powerful and
a lot more flexible than many other
monitors.

‘M addr data’ fills the location defined by
addr with the user's data. If this address is
already displayed on screen, it is im-
mediately updated.

W reg data' will write given data to any
of the 6502 registers.

‘B addr’ will insert a breakpoint at a
given address. This is displayed on the
Trace screen as a reminder. It’s a shame
only one breakpoint may be set at once.

'R' will run the user program immediate-
ly from the current address. Its main use is
to avoid having to single step through a
long routine using the space bar. The
escape key will halt a run at any time . When
not running the user program, the escape
key is disabled. The cursor keys move the
window up and down through the stack and
CTRL E will exit to Basic.

The manual warns you once or twice
of possible error displays or corrupted
screens. This is a bit untidy when otherwise
the program seems very robust. Although
techniques are offered to re-establish the
status quo, it is a pity Trace couldn't have
taken care of it on its own.

Also on the same tape is a simple
disassembler. This gives the same display
as the three line version included in Trace,
but displays ten lines of mnemonics at
once. Facilities are provided to print the
disassembled listing.

Verdict

The name Machine Code Trace is a
misnomer here. It does much more than
many full machine code monitors and
offers the dual-screen facility, which is
invaluable for debugging. The whole
program has the feel of being well worked
out and designed by someone who
fully intended it to simplify their own
programming.

RATING

Value for Money Ml

Nam Machine Code Trace System BBC B Price
£14.95 PufcReAec Ouasar Software, Mughall.
Liverpool Format Cassette Language Machine
code (Mhh Mail order and dealers.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IYR4

55

Roy Ingram

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1 PCN PRO-TEST |

SOFTWARE

Over the

Was Steve McClure healthier, wealthier and wiser after reviewing these two Atari packages?

T b make life easier for the socially
active micro user. Atari has come up
with Timewise, which it claims will
help busy people organise their lives.

Features

Timewise is essentially a glorified version
of the conventional desk diary. Unlike
desk diaries, however, it enables you to
store and access information in a variety of
ways.

The program’s main menu shows the five
parts of the program available to you: one
which allows you to review appointments
already entered, one which displays (in a
calendar format) appointments for any
given month between now and 1999. one
which lets you browse through your listings
while updating appointments, and another
to enter the appointments date you want to
record. Another selection from the menu
is devoted to file maintenance.

The menu is carefully and attractively
laid out in the Atari tradition. This is
complemented by the equally well-
designed instruction brochure.

This program's main selling point is that
information can be accessed in a number of
different ways. You can look up a
particular engagement according to who
you arc supposed to be meeting, or in terms
of what time a meeting is planned for. or in
terms of the type of event scheduled:
academic, business, personal or whatever.

In use

For example . if you wanted to find out how
many birthdays you’d listed under January
1985. enter a B for birthdays, under the
heading Type. You then enter the
appropriate data describing January 1985
along with asterisks under Time and
Person (since you’re looking for all
birthdays in a given month). Timewise
then dutifully shows on screen how many
birthdays you’ve seen fit to note in
advance.

But where this program, which is
designed for machines with at least 32K
capacity, falls down is in terms of the
quality of stored data. Events entered into
Timewise can only be labelled in vague and
general terms. This is particularly evident
in the category called Type which describes
what sort of event you’ve noted. Timewise
only allows space for one letter under this
heading, so an evening class becomes C for
Class, while a business engagement be-
comes B for Business, and so on.

^ The instruction booklet contains a list of
fc all the various single character symbols
z which can be used for this function, and
£ you are encouraged to make a notation as
> to what type of engagement each symbol
* represents.

counter

Verdict

It is hard to understand why Atari didn't
give capacity to store more letters under
the Type heading — a minor irritant, to be
sure, but one which detracts from the
appeal of this program. And it's also
strange that you have to use a piece of
paper to store information that could just
as easily be stored by the program.

Similarly, under Comments, only a very
small space is allowed for any details about
the recorded appointments.

One nice feature of this program is the
way in which you can make a special note of
an appointment by placing an exclamation
mark next to the entry. When it comes on
screen a beep sounds, thus making you
aware of the engagment’s important na-
ture.

Apart from features like this. Timewise
is a dependable if somewhat uninspired
program.

Nam Timewise Mae £22.99 AwOcattoa

Computerised time scheduler Spalsa Atari
(32K. disk) Mlia Alan Femat Disk

RATINGS t/5)

Features

Documentation

Overall value

nnn

nnnnn

nnn

nnnn

nnn

S hopping List is a program designed
for people who are tired of going to
the supermarket with their pockets
full of pieces of paper on which are
inscribed the names of various items
needed for the household.

Rather than scramble madly at the shops
and try to remember what is needed for the
coming week, with this program (so its
makers claim) shoppers need only consult
a handy, neat printout which tells them
exactly what has to be bought.

Included on the printout are details such
as the quantity of each item to be bought as
well as price.

In fact the designer of the program goes
further and claims: “You will recoup the
price of this software in one or two trips
through avoiding unnecessary purchases.’
That’s quite a claim. Let’s see if the Atari
Shopping List, written by D J Lees of
Loudsoft measures up to it.

Features

To begin with, the program lists 18
commodity groups such as Bread and
Cakes, Cooked Meat and Clothes. Each of
these groups contains 18 items consisting
of commonly-purchased household items.
The names of various goods have already
been entered into the program, which
enables us to learn something of Mr/Ms
Lees’ tastes, if nothing else.

The program's instruction booklet ex-
plains that the commodities listed in “Atari
Shopping List’ are oriented towards a large
supermarket and that the prices listed are
current for March 1983. So you’ll probably
have to do a little price revision (upwards,
one would imagine ) if you were to invest in
this piece of software.

In use

Using this progam is simple enough. All
you do is move through the various lists,
entering beside the name of each commod-
ity how many of that particular one you
wish to buy. You press return’ after the
last item listed and wait for a printout
listing all your purchases, complete with a
grand price total, to appear. For obvious
reasons a printer is vital when using this
program. One problem with ‘Atari Shop-
ping list’ is that the names of commodities
arc listed separately from their corres-
ponding prices.

What this means in practice is that when
entering the name of a new commodity or
updating its price you have to take its
number on the original list of 18 commod-
ities and add 18 to it. to figure which price
on the price list below the commodity list
corresponds to it.

One slip-up here and you’ll go ape
thinking you're going to have to pay £32 for
a bunch of bananas.

This tends to belie the claim that using
the program will enable the user to recoup
losses by avoiding unnecessary purchases.

Verdict

With a few improvements this program
could be helpful.

Nmn Atari Shopper AppAcattaa Computerised
shopping list Price £8. 50 Syalaa Atari (32K.
disk, printer) PaMabar Loudsoft. 1 . Loudon
Place, Castle Donington. Derby. DE7 2SP
Format Disk Other vantaas None Language
Basic Outlets Mail order/Somc retail

RATINGS |/5)

Feature*

Kin

Documentation

nnn

Performance

nnnn

Usability

nnn

Reliability

nnn

Overall value

nnn

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IWU

57

GAMEPLAY

SPECTRUM 48K

Dirty
old town

Nm» Urban Upstart System 4#K
Spectrum Price 16.50 Pubtahef
Richard Shepard Software. 23-25
Elmshott Lane, Chippenham.
Slough. Berks Fermat ( asset tc
L angu a ge Basic Other versions None
Outlets Mail Order Rct.nl

And now for something com-
pletely different from Peter
Cooke, the author of Invincible
Island, who has set his new
graphics adventure in the grim
industrial town of Scarthorpe.

Objectives

Your only desire is to escape
from the town, as well it might
be when you consider that
among its more attractive
boulevards are Muck Alley and
Amputation Road. There's a
scoring system as a guide to how
well you do, with a maximum
possible score of 22.

In play

Once the adventure is running it
proves to be a treat . as different
from conventional games as
Mad Martha was when it
appeared. The grimy town
offers lots of scope for amusing
locations not to mention
hazards like the football fans
with an O' level in mugging.

Each location's graphics take
up the top third of the screen,
while underneath is the descrip-
tion. visible exits, objects, and
room for your responses.
Movement commands are li-
mited to the four compass
directions, with the occasional
upanddown. You can carry and

wear up to nine items, but if you
try typing help all you learn is
you’re going to need it.

Beginning in your bedroom
the first task is to leave the
house , which is not too difficult .
so long as you take care not to
get arrested for indecent expo-
sure. You can then wander the
tasteful streets of Scathorpc
looking for clues to a possible
escape route. Be on your best
behaviour, though, the police
here are red-hot. ever-vigilant
for loiterers and littcrcrs alike.
The first trick you must learn is
how to get out of jail, and you
also need to know how to get
out of hospital where you’re
flung with equal regularity,
courtesy of the football fans or
the inclement weather.

Responses to you inputs
come quickly, and as usual in
this type of game the main
delays are in waiting for the
graphics for each location to be
drawn as you move about.

To be honest, it isn’t too
difficult to complete the bulk of
the adventure, but the last few
tasks are ingeniously worked
out and kept me coming back
for more

Verdict

There are a lot of laughs in
Urban Upstart . plus a fair bit of
brain-stretching, and there’s no
doubt that it’s the best thing yet
from Richard Shepard Soft-
ware.

Mike Gerrard

RATING! 5)

Lasting appeal

Playability «««««
Use of machine
Overall value

Godzilla

Kong

Name Godzilla and ihc Martians
System IMC Spectrum Price 15.95
Publisher Temptation Software. 27
Cinque Ports Street. Rye. East
Sussex; (0797) 223642 Fermat
Cassette Language Basic Other
ver a lana None Outlets Mail order/
retail

The Martians have been caus-
ing trouble for us Earthlings for
years now. Here they arc again,
this time threatening to destroy
the molecular structure of
Earth's atmosphere. For some
reason they have a Fay Wray
stand-in trapped at the top of a
building site and Temptation
Software obviously believes
King Kong has had his day so in
a stroke of brilliant originality it
has substituted Godzilla.

Objectives

The originality ends here. It’s
the same old story of rescuing
the damsel in distress. You
have to get to the top of the
building avoiding the Martians
and their death traps.

One difference between this
and the standard Kong' is that
you only have a limited time to
effect the rescue. The oxygen
level is shown at the top of the
screen as a horizontal bar and if
it runs out it's curtains for you.
the lady and the rest of the
civilised world as we know it.

In Play

Beneath the extremely attrac-
tive and luxurious packaging
lies a bundle of surprises, most
of them unpleasant.

The building site is a typical
snakes and ladders operation
with you moving from side to
side and ascending the con-
venient ladders, jumping Mar-
tians and death traps en route.

Once at the top, you rescue
the damsel as though by magic.
However, her death wish re-
asserts itself and before you
know it she’s back at the top and
you must risk life, limb and
terminal boredom once more.

Godzilla is obviously resting
on his laurels in this one as the
oldstar of the silverscreen lends
little more than the weight of his
name to the proceedings.

The graphics are slow and
jerky which is hardly surprising
as the entire program is written
in Basic. Sensible use of the
cursor keys is made pointless by
the poor animation which halts
twice a second to accept a key
press. This also results in your
having little accurate control
over your character.

The only good point, and it’s
purely incidental, is that be-
cause the whole thing is in Basic
you can examine the listing and
perhaps learn something from
the exercise.

Verdict

It would be pointless to list all
the program's faults, almost as
boring as playing the game . The
days are long passed when
arcade games were acceptable
in Basic and you can Find better
in many magazine listings.

You’d probably get more fun
from editing this than from

RATING ( 5)

Lasting appeal

Playability A

Use of machine A

Overall value A

58

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

T TRW and

coniusev by * ktmn . a

limitless caves. adventures?

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"cap, to ,k h bum j «>$£* w ire of I

Star of M tings of M tar.

Jn IMS CR1CK££M00D inClD£ttl. you. Arnold Q
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yourself bored out of your mind and looking for something to
do until the laundrette opens There's nothing for it but to
leave your padded celt and search the wilds of London,
fttoscow. Hanoi and Wigan for the elusive Holy (frail,
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EAfTER SPENDING CHRISTMAS
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VIRGIN GAMES ARE:

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VIRGIN GAMES GANG

OUR GANG is growing in numbers all the time
and everybody who buys one of our new games
will receive from the LAUGHING SHARK
an invitation to join the Gang for one year,
absolutely FREE. Gang members «
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THE "I WANT TO BE RICH
AND FAMOUS DEPT"

We are always keen to receive any ORIGINAL
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any of you programming mega-stars out there.
DON'T DELAY - SEND TOOAYI

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For a leaflet containing reviews from our current
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by Slew l rr to* thr

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MAIL ORDER

All our programs are available at normal retail
price Including postage and packing, direct from

our "MY LOCAL DEALER HAS GONE OUT

STOCKED YOUR GAMES DEPT" at

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If you would like a copy of our PE
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our games, complete with screen shots), please
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GAMEPLAY

#

DRAGON 32

So far as
it goes

NaaMShuttlc/apSystMi Dragon 32.
joysticks. Price £12.95 PaMisfo
Dragon Data. Kcnfig Industrial
Estate . Port Talbot Fermat C asset tc
Language Basic mcodi Outlets Mail
ordcr/Rctail.

This is essentially Lunar Land-
er, with the added benefit of
some speech.

Dragon's Shuttlezap is a
mind-bending game that gives
you a space shuttle to fly, your
mission to grab as many hos-
tile sputniks as possible, then
return to safety on earth.

In play

Another talking game, but
there isn’t really a lot to it.
After an optional instruction
session, you have a chance to
master the joystick controls (a
nice touch) before zooming off
into space. The only remaining
task is to specify your fuel and
time limits.

Before take-off a count-
down is given, but I found you
didn't need to manoeuvre out
of your silo base — you could
fly straight through the walls.
Your remaining fuel and time’
are displayed on screen
throughout. Infuriatingly,
there’s no wraparound at the
screen edge.

Objectives

Whenever you rejoin the
screen, you always re-appear
on the left and the sputniks
always on the right. The shuttle
will only fly left to right and the
reverse thrust isn’t sufficient to

carry you backwards for any
length of time. The result was
that during my first attempts I’d
end up more off the screen than
on it.

The graphics were good but
the game didn't really deserve
them. Sputniks hail to be
approached cautiously as they
were armed with a laser, but
this could only fire horizontal-
ly. After some practice it was
fairly easy to sneak up on
(or under) them.

Returning to base was far
trickier than leaving. By the
time you returned from your
mission — whether or not
you’d bagged any satellites —
a cosmic death cloud had en-
veloped the earth. The radar
base station sends out a magic
beam which clears a safe path
for you. A fair amount of fuel
is needed to keep airborne
duringthis. Bringing the shuttle
down proved to be the most
difficult of all. and I found the
joystick controls weren’t as
good as I thought they should
be.

Verdict

The speech from the program
was a considerable disappoint-
ment. The meanings for some
of the commands could only
have been guessed at. At the
end of a high score game came
'Burst sofa”. After the laughter
had died away, it was dear
(because it was printed on the
screen) it was saying ‘Best so
far.' Something you couldn't
say about this high priced game .

Jim Ballard

RATING

Lasting appeal AAA

Playability AAA

Use of machine AAA

Overall value A A

Hook and
eye

Name Hooka! System Dragon 32

Price £5.7' Publisher Shards. UW
Eton Road. Ilford. Esses Fermat

Cassette Language Basic Other
Version* None Outlets Mail order.
Boots

Is no hobby safe from the avid
games programmer? Angling is
the latest attempt to glue you to
your monitor, a rather more
sedate activity than the usual
sources of inspiration, like
aquaplaning and pot-holing, so
what next? A game based on
philately or aimed at students of
gothic architecture?

Objectives

You must land as many fat fish
as you can in whatever time
limit you choose, and you can
have one- or two-player games.

In play

In fact, a variety of options arc
open to you. all put to you at the
start . There are four skill levels;
you can have the fish still or
moving, you can use keyboard
or joystick, and have any time
limit up to 15 minutes. After
choosing, the picture forms in
PMODE 3 showing an angler
seated by a river-bank with rod
and line stretched out over the
water. Under the surface arc a
couple of fish, each with yellow
biting zones round their heads.

Using joystick or arrow keys
you first try to set the length of
the rod so that it is directly
above your fishy target .then set
the depth of the cast according
to a scale that appears beneath
the angler. Pressing the fire-
button or *C key makes the
cast, which has to land right
within the vcllow zone to be

successful. You have three
attempts before the fish move
to different positions, while if
you cast your line into the
river-bed you have three
chances to recover it . before the
line breaks.

If you get a fish on the line the
angler stands up. a landing net
appears in the water, and you
must manoeuvre the fish safely
into the net without getting too
close to the frame, or the line
breaks and the fish swims
merrily off avoiding that ren-
dezvous with a plate of chips.
Each time you land a fish you’re
told the type and weight of your
catch, and a running total is
kept as long as you're in time or
want to keep playing.

A sloppy piece of program-
ming asks after every catch if
you want to fish again. If you
type ‘Yes’ then you can't alter
the skill level or other condi-
tions. while if you type ‘No’ the
program ends and have to
re-RUN.

The graphics are what you'd
expect from the Dragon using
simple Basic, while the sound is
limited to a few beeps. Never-
theless the game requires a fine
eve. particularly on the hardest
level where you’re aiming at
what appears to be a single pixel
on the screen. Overall, the
game soon became boring. It
might appeal more to the very
young, or perhaps suit a family
challenge.

Verdict

I wasn’t hooked, and I can’t sec
this finding a plaice in many
software collections.

Mike Gerrard

RATING

Lasting appeal A A

Playability AAA

Use of the machine AAA

Overall value AAA

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IWU

VALUE that's
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•£»•■*» Telephone (04231 504526

SPEED UP ANY BASIC PROGRAM |
WITH OUR COMPILERS

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BASIC COMPILERS

Petspeed Compiler tor 4000/8000 series £1 25.00

Integer Basic Compiler for 3000/4000/8000 senes £75.00

CROSS-COMPILERS FOR BASIC

Portspeed: Compiles source on 8000 series to run

on CBM 64 £125.00

X-64: Integer compiler com piling on 8000 series

giving machine code executable on CBM 64 £ 1 25.00

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giving machine code executable on 700/B- 128 — £45000

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Compilers are supplied ex- stodc Interpod supplied 7-days
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COMMODORE SOFTWARE

Native compilers for the CBM 64 and the 700/ B1 28 are
available only from Commodore.

I Oxford Computer Systems (Software) Ltd. ^

Hensington Road. Woodstock. Oxford 0X7 1 JR. England^
Telephone (0993) 8 1 2700 Telex 83 1 47 Ref. 0CSL

A3

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

Title: Minescape You gain points as you move forward detectorthere is a meagre stock of hand

Machine: Oric-1 48K and when you complete a section. You grenades. These can be used to either

Application: Game lose points if you move backwards, so blow up mines or remove parts of the

Language: Oric Basic much so that if you backtrack too far maze.

Author: LJ Lynch then BANG. you areout of thegamedue One useful feature of the game is the

to your negative score. ability to press the 'P' key to pause the

To help you on your way you have a game. This enables you to stop the

Minescape, from LJ Lynch of Runcorn slightly defective mine detector. This game to answer the telephone, or even

in Cheshire, is a game of skill, strategy, only clicks if there are mines in adjacent gain some thinking time since the clock

nerveandspeed.Theideaistofirstofall squares — it does not give any hint as to tends to run out fairly quickly,

cross a minefield and then wend your which square, this momentous deci- At the end of the game sit back and

way through a series of mined mazes, sion is left up to you. In addition to the listen to the score music; good, eh?

PROGRAM

NOTES

0-15 Reads DATA and prints the

instructions using the sub-
routine at 8000. The game
starts at line 200:

19-30 This subroutine is used

when you lose a life. It
makes the EXPLODE sound
and blots you off the screen.

35-55 Subroutine for the mine

detector. Calling #FB03
causes a click.

60-95 Subroutines for throwing

grenades. These are called
from lines 860-930.

200-220 Turn off the cursor and key

click, then set the screen
colours.

5 CLS : G0SUB20000: G0SUB40000: PAPER 1
7 PRINTS PRINT: PRINT" DO YOU WANT INSTRUC
TIONS <Y/N>?"

9 GET A*

11 IF A$="N" THENGOTO 200

13 IF A$= " Y " THENGOSUB 8000 ELSE GOTO 9

15 G0T0200

19 REM ** SUBROUTINE FOR LOSING A LIFE

20 EXPLODE: L$=MID* <L$, 2) : PLOT 18, 26. L*

25 CH= 1 1 7 : F OR J = 1 TO 1 0 : PLOTA, B, CH: CH=CH+1 :
NEX T J : A= 1 5 : B=24 : WA I T50

30 RETURN

33 REM *** SUBROUTINE FOR MIME
DETECTOR CLICKS *+*

35 I FSCRN < A- 1 , B> =98THENCALL#FB03
40 I FSCRN ( A+ 1 , B ) =98THENCALL#FB03
45 I FSCRN < A , B - 1 > =9STHENCALL#FB03
50 I FSCRN < A, B+ 1 ) S =98THENCALL#FB03
55 RETURN

57 REM *** SUBROUTINES FOP THROWING
GRENADES ***

60 SHOOT : GR=GR- 1 : I FSCRN ( A+2 , B ) =93THENW A I
T20: EXPLODE: S=S+25

65 !9,25;GRS : CH=1 17: F0RJ=1T0 10: PLOTA+2, B
, CH: CH=CH+ 1 : NEXTJ : WAIT50: RETURN
70 SHOOT : GR=GR- 1 : I FSCRN ( A-2 , B > =98THENWA I
T20: EXPLODE: S=S+25

75 !9,25;GR; : CH=1 1 7: FORJ = 1 TOIO: PLOTA-2, B
, CH: CH-CH+ 1 : NEXTJ : WAI T50: RETURN
80 SHOOT :GR=GR-1: IFSCRN (A, B+2) =98THENWAI
T20: EXPLODE: S=S+25

85 !9,25!GR; :CH=1 17: FORJ=l TOIO: PLOTA, B+2
, CH: CH=CH+ 1 : NEXTJ: WAIT50: RETURN
90 SHOOT :GR*GR-1: IFSCRN (A, B-2) =98THENWAI
T20: EXPLODE: S=S+25

95 ‘9,25«GR; : CH=1 17: FORJ=l TOIO: PLOTA, B-2
, CH : CH=CH+ 1 : NE X T J : WA I T50 : RET URN
190 REM *** TURN OFF CURSOR KEYCLICK
200 PRINTCHR*<17> ;CHR*<6>

220 CLS: PAPER2

New Guide to the Oriel

COMPUTING WITH THE ORIC 1

Ian Hickman

This new book is for all users
of the One 1 micro. It
complements the One
Manual and can be used
alongside it. An introductory
section covers the initial
switching-on and setting-up
of the micro, followed by
some simple BASIC
programming. Later chapters
introduce more advanced
BASIC, high resolution
colour graphics, the sound
feature and interfacing, with
a special section on the one
printer and another on
machine code programming A number of original
programs are included.

A practical book which will help you get the best from your
Oric 1.

So ft cover 160 pages 0 408 01444 X £ 6 95

Available from your nearest bookseller

ewnes Technical Books

Borough Graon, Sevenoaks, Kent TNI 5 8 PH

NEW ORIGINAL GAMES
FOR THE COMMODORE 64

• NIGHTMARE PARK , m tact a compendium of 14

games The task of the user ts to gam as many points as possible travelling
through a mare beset by obstacles at every turn These mfunationg obstacles
are overcome by a combination of slu«. sharp reflexes or by sheer good luc*
making Nightmare Park a suitable game tor all ages

PRICE £7.99

• DOTS & BOXES is an intelligent game where the user and
the computer take turns m completing boxes by drawing a line between two
dots The aim of the game is to win the moat boxes whilst skilfully minimising
the number of boxes given away to the computer

PRICE £6.95

• HEXAPAWNfor strategic and persistent ptay The opponent
(computer) has no initial strategy but is programmed to learn from the user s
wins to improve its own strategy

PRICE £5.95

• CHOPPER LAND Your chopper is chartered to transfer

goods from your base and land SAFELY An exciting new game ful of

PRICE £7.99

Send Cheques/PO:

A.R. SOFTWARE
86 Avonbrae Crescent
Hamilton, Scotland
Tel: 0698 282036
DEALER ENQUIRIES
WELCOME

Lite Computers Ltd. is proud to
announce the combination of the
Lite 100 and Palantir, the most
exciting word-processing package
to hit the market to-date!

The LITE 100 can be used as a
stand-alone word processor, as a
powerful 8-bit business computer,
or it will convert your electronic
typewriter into a word processor
without the need to purchase a
printer! A wide range of application
packages are available to run on
the LITE 100 immediately, provid-
ing the facility for wordprocessing,
accounting, stock-control, etc.

All this at the price of ONLY
£1,395.00!!

Why not try PALANTIR for ONLY
£12.00?

If you have an IBM PC, Sirius,
Apricot or LITE 100 we will send
you the entire software package so
that you can use all the functions,
including printing. Give the soft-
ware a true test on your own
system and when you buy the
complete package (RRP £265, in-
cluding the mailout facility) we will
refund your £12.00.

We guarantee your satisfaction!

Lite Computers Ltd.,

Unit 7A, Waldeck House,
Waldeck Road,

Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Tel: Maidenhead (0628) 73133/4

3Vouche

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

65

RING FOR SAMPLE PRINTOUT, FULL SPECIFICATIONS & LATEST PRICES
WE WILL NOT BE BEATEN ON THE PRICE OF STAR OR JUKI PRINTERS

JUKI 6100

STAR GEMIN1 1 0X

One Year Warranty
20 CPS : BiDirectionaJ & Logic Seeking
10, 12, 15 & Proportional Spacing
Wordstar Compatible
2K Buffer: 13 Inch Platen
Underline : Backspace + Lots more
Centronics Interface Standard
RS 232 Interface £54.00 + VAT Extra
Tractor Feed £99.00 + VAT Extra

JUKI 6100 £369.00 + £55.35 = £424.35

BBC/ORIC or DRAGON Package
JUKI 6100 + Cable +

24HR Delivery & VAT £440.00

One Year Warranty
True Descenders 9x9 Matrix
1 20 CPS Bidirectional & Logic seeking
5, 6, 8.5, 1 0.1 2, 1 7 cpi 40.48.68.80,96. 1 36 cpI Italics.
Emphasized. Double strike, Super & Sub Scripts
Downloadable Character Set (not 515)

Hi-Resolution & Block Graphics STAR DELTA 10
Continuous Underline, Backspace. 160 CPS
Friction or Tractor Feed CENTRONICS AND

Internal Buffer Expandable to 8K RS232 INT. STD.
RS232 Int. £52.00 + VAT Extra £320 + VAT

Gemini 10X (10" Carriage)

£250 inc. VAT

Star DP 515 (15" Carriage) £280 inc. VAT
Package tor BBC/DRAGON/ORIC
GEMINI 10X + Cable + Delivery +

BBC Screen Dump Software £270 inc. VAT
RS232 package also available
RING FOR LATEST PRICES

STAR DP8480 I ELECTRON £199.00

RS232 INTERFACE STANDARD
7x9 Character Matrix (7 Needle Head)

80 CPS Bidirectional & logic seeking
5,6,85, 10, 12. 17 cpi
40,48,68.80.96. 132 cpi
Friction & Tractor Feed: 10 Inch Platen
Hi-Res option with Software £10.00/£15.00
DP8480 with RS232 Int. £208.70 +

£31.30 VAT = £240.00

Package prices for BBC/Newbrain/Epson HX20
DP8480 + Cable + Hl-Rea + 24Hr Delivery &
VAT = £250.00

SERIAL PRINTER CABLES

BBC to 25 way D type £9.50

EPSON HX20 to 25 way D type £9.50

NEWBRAIN to 25 way D type £12.00

25 way D type to 25 way D type £15.00

BBC Micro Model B £399.00

BBC Micro Model B with Disc Int. £469.00

Large Range of Accessones including Disc Drives. Printers.
Monitors always in stock

Printer Cables

BBC to 36 Way Centronics Type Connector £15.00

Dragon to 36 Way Centronics Type Connector £15.00

One to 36 Way Centronics Type Connector £15.00

Torch to 36 Way Centronics Type Connector £20.00

Blank Cl 5/C30 Cassettes Ten for £4.50 ANY MIX
Send SAE for Full Price List

VAT INCLUDED WHERE APPLICABLE

PHONE/CREDIT CARD ORDERS WELCOME

Postage 50p per order or as stated
24 HR Securicor Delivery for Printers/Disk Drives £8.00

(SHOP CLOSED MONDAYS)

C.J.E. Dept (PCW), 78 BRIGHTON RD

y. . WORTHING

Microcomputers w. sussex bnh 2en

(0903) 213900

PCN FEBRUARY 25 NK4

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

230

240-260

280-300

310

340-480

500-600

620

640

660

680

700

720-840

860-930

940-950

960

970-980

Turn off the keyboard.
Draw the screen border.

Set up the variables for
lives, paper colour and
score.

This is equivalent to rando-
mise since location 630 is
fairly unpredictable.

Print the titles onto the
screen.

Set up the mines on the
screen.

Initialise the coordinates of
the man (A.B).

Re-enable the keyboard
and PING you're ready to
go.

Begin the main loop.

Put the score onto the
screen.

Put man onto screen and
gosub to do detector clicks.
Get the move and update
the man position, adjust the
score if a step back, also
check for walls.

Check for a grenade throw
and gosub to the appropri-
ate routine for the direction
of the throw.

Check for going off the
screen.

Decrement the time and put
it onto the screen.

Check the time. If you are
out of time then BANG you
are dead.

225 REM *** DISABLE KEYBOARD INTERRUPTS
(SPEEDS BASIC BY 207.) ***

230 CALL#E6CA

235 REM *** BUILDS SCREEN BOARDER ***

237 REM *** PLOT X,Y,128 PLOTS A BLOCK
OF INVERSE COLOUR AT X,Y ***

240 F0RX=2TQ35: F'LOTX , 24, 12S:PL0TX,3, 128:
NEXTX

260 FOR Y=3T024: PLOT 1,Y, 128: PLOT36, Y, 128:
NEXTY

270 REM *** INITIALISE ***

280 L*="fff "

300 L=3:P=2:S=0

308 REM *** NEXT LINE * RANDOMIZE ***

310 D=RND (-DEEK (630) )

320 D= INT (RND ( 1 ) *30) +70

340 PL0T25, 1 , "MI NES : " : PLOT 1 , 1 , " SCORE : "

360 GR=4

380 PLOT 1 , 25, "GRENADES: " : ! 9, 25; GR;

390 PL0T22 . 25 , " H I -SCORE : " : ! 30 , 25 ; HS ;

400 X=8:F0RJ=i T03: PLOTX , 3, 32: X=X+1 1 : NEXT
J

420 PLOT 12, 26, "LIVES: " : PL0T18, 26, L*

440 !31, i;D;

460 T=350

480 PLOT 13,0, "TIME: ": ! 18,0; T;

500 FQRJ=1 TOD

520 X=IN1 (RND(1)*35M 1

540 Y= I NT ( RND ( 1 ) *20 > +3

560 I FSCRN ( X , Y ) =980RSCRN < X , Y ) = 1 28THENG0T
0520

580 PLOTX , Y, 98
600 NEXTJ

620 A=15c B=24: PL. OTA, B-l „ 32

630 REM *** RE-ENABLE KEYBOARD INTERRUPT

S ***

640 CALL#E804:PING

650 REM *** MAIN LOOP ***

660 REPEAT
680 ! 7, 1 ; S;

700 PL OT A , B , 1 02 : GOSUB 35
720 K*=KEY*

740 IFK$-CHR* (8) THENPLQTA, B, 107:A=A-1: IF
SCRN ( A * B ) = 1 28T HENA-A i 1

760 IFK$=CHR$ (9) I HENF'L OTA, B, 107:A=A+1: IF
SCRN < A, B> =1 28THENA=A- 1

780 IFK^=CHR* ( 10) THENPLOTA, B, 109:B=B+1:S
=S -20

800 1 FSCRN < A, B) =1 28THENB=B- 1 : S=S+20

820 IFK*=CHR$ (II THENPLOTA, B, 109: B=B- 1 : S

=S+10

840 I FSCRN ( A , B ) = 1 28 THENB-B+ 1 : S=S- 1 0
860 I FK$" " Q " ANDGR >OTHENFLOT A , B , 95 : WA I T50
: G0SUB90

880 i FK*= " 2 ” ANDGR >0THENPL0T A , B , 95 : WA I T50
: G0SUB60

900 I FK*= " 1 " ANDGR >OTHENPLGT A , B , 95 : WA I T50
: G0SUB70

920 I FK " A " ANDGR >0THENPL0T A , B,95: WAIT50
: G0SUB8'.'

930 I FK$“ " P " THENPLOT 1 4 , 2 , 12: PLOT 15, 2, "F*A

USE " : C0SUB7000

940 I FB>24 T HENB=24

945 I FA< 2THENA=2

950 IFA^35THENA=35

960 T-T-l: ! 18,0;T;

970 IFT»50THENPL0T12,0, 12

980 IFT*<0THENL=L-1 : G0SUB20: T=200: PLOT 12

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

The first program in Software Farm’s
HIGH-RES RANGE!

to the SPECTRUM
without any additional hardware!!

In 1849 the Great
American Gold rush started.

Almost everyone who could,
sold up everything and
dashed to the west coast to
look for this precious metal
- including YOU!

You must dig for those
nuggets (1) - But watch out for
the giant rats (2) They burrow
through the earth (3) to get into .
your tunnel. You can delay themV*

for a while by knocking down - ^ ^

a support (4) which causes a /\f II] I M jL .K1
small cave-in (5) to block /lV I £-A OX

but the further you have to go
to replenish that mound! Once
all nuggets have been collected,
a cave opens (11) allowing you
to pass through to the next
stage - if you can reach it! This
gives you more rats - but less
snakes to destroy them with!!

• Skill levels

• Extra man every 10,000
points

• Hall of Fame
• Define your own

keys for ease of

play or use with any

their way. but you can only SCREEN DISPLAY.

destroy them by releasing
snake (6) from it’s nest (7), when
it heads straight for the surface,
destroying everything in it’s way.

All the time the Gremlin (8) is
busy digging it’s way through
your waste earth pile (9) to reach
the entrance to your mine. Once
it does you have no

escape!! - so you must stop it
getting there by returning to
the surface to replenish the
main mound (9) with the
smaller pile of earth which
appears on the surface as you
dig (10). The deeper you dig
the more points you score -

Available from all good computer shops
or send cheque/P.O. for £5.95 (inc P&P) to:

Software Farm, FREEPOST (No stamp required) (BS3658)B, Bristol BS8 2YY

Software Farm. 155 Whlteladie. Road. Clifton. Bristol BS8 2RF. Tel: (0272) 731411 Telex 444742 AFMADV G

Fantastic and
unique graphics on a
standard ZX-81 (with 16K)

• Only £5.95 - No more than
many ordinary programs

• A truly interesting and
exciting game that no
ZX-81 owner can afford to
be without

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

1000 You have stood on a mine,
oh dear!

1020 If there are no lives left jump
to 3000.

1040 Game continues until the
top of the screen is reached.

1060-1120 Change the paper colour
each time a new level is
reached.

3000-3540 Routine for Hi-Lo score,
gives options of playing
again and plays the

appropriate tune, if
selected.

5000-6100 Plots random maze.

Keyboard is disabled to get
up a bit of speed.

3010 IFS>HSTHENHS=S: G0T03500
3020 PR'INTCHR$ < 4 '

3030 PRINT : PRINT : F’RINTSPC < 6)5 CHR$ (27) 5 "J
HIGH SCORE IS: "H5
3040 PRINT: PRINT

3050 PRINT : PRIN7SPC (4)5 CHR$ (27) $ "JYOU SC
ORED: ,, ;s; ,, POINTS 1 " : PRINTCHR* (4;

3055 GOSUB 15000

3060 F‘L0T6,23, " (FOR INSTRUCTIONS PRESS ’
I » > M

3070 PLOTS, 25, "ANOTHER GO (Y/N) "

3080 BETA*

3090 IF A$="N " 7 HENPAPER7 : PR I N TCHR* < 6 ) ? CM

R$ (17) : CLS: END

3100 IF A*="Y ,, THENG0T0220

3110 IF A$~" I " THENG0SUB8000

3120 GOTO 3070

3500 PRINTCHR* (4)

3510 PRINT: PRINT: PRINTSPC (8) ;CHR*<27) ; "N
A NEW HIGH SCORE f ! ! "

3520 PRINT: PRINT

3530 PRINT: PRINTSPC(U) ;CHR*<27) ; "J";S; "
F 0 1 NTS PR I NTCHR* ( 4 )

3535 WAIT20: GOSUB 14000
3540 GOTO 3060

4999 REM #*** BUILD MAZE ****

5000 CLS: PAPER F*:CALL#E 6 CA r REM ** DISAB
LE KEYBOARD INTERRUPTS **

5050 F 0RX=2TCJ36

5100 PL0TX,3, 128: PLOTX , 23, 128

5150 NEXTX

5200 FOR Y=3T023

5250 PLOT 1 , Y, 128: PL0T36, Y, 128

5300 NEXTY

5350 F0RY=3T023STEP2

5400 FQRX= 1 T035

5450 PLOTX, Y, 128

5500 NEXTX, Y

5550 F0RJ=1 T060

5600 X=INT<RND<1 >*35)+l

5650 Y=INT (RND ( 1 ) *20) +3

5700 IFSCRN < X , Y) =128THENGQTG5600ELSEPL0T

X, Y, 128

5750 NEXTJ

5800 F0RJ=1T0120

5850 X=INT (RND < 1 > *30) +3

5900 Y=INT (RND < 1 ) * 18) +4

5950 I FSCRN < X , Y) =32THENG0T05850ELSEPL0TX

y 32

6000 NEXTJ

6050 X~8: F0RJ-1T03: PLOTX, 23, 32: X«X+11:NE
XTJ

6 1 00 D= I NT ( RND < 1 > *4 0 ) +40 : GQT0340
6990 F:EM *** SUBROUTINE FOR ^AUSE ***
7000 REPEAT
7016 K*»KEY*

7020 UN T I LK*= " P ” : PLOT 14,2,3: FOR J = 1 5T0 1 9 :

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

WILD WEST HERO

For the 48K Spectrum

An arcade game of fast action and skill, increasingly difficult
waves of animated, smooth, hi-res bandits to be destroyed with
auto-repeat firing. Includes high score, two player option, attract
mode and is compatible, with the Kempston Joystick l/F.

“Very impressive graphics”

Tim Hartnell, best selling author.

“A blimmin’ good mega zap” Jeff
M inter, top VIC 20 & CBM 64 games
designer.

“It is one of my top 20 all-time games’
-A. Takoushi, software journalist for
many publishers.

I

ONLY £ 5.90 INC VAT 4 PAP
DEALERS CONTACT

Tiger, Centresoft. Logic 3
or PAUL HOLMES 041-956 5058

DUSTMAN

For the 48K ZX Spectrum

New from Timescape Software is the crazy
game called Dustman. Our friend Alf the
Dustman is no ordinary dustman. He is a
hyper-intelligent mega-dustman whose
favourite lager is seeking revenge. Alf must
fight back at the lager by throwing rubbish at
the lager and other deadly enemies out to
reduce him to the thickness of a bin liner. Alt’s
only hope is the perpetual littering of the
enemy and help from Friends of the Binless’
who help him achieve extra points.

1 VIRGINIA GARDENS, FAIRWAYS
MILNGAVIE, GLASGOW G62 6 LG
Telephone: 041-956 5058

The games will soon be available from John Menzies.
and many good computer shops

Timescape Software. 1 Virginia Gardens. Milngavie.
Glasgow G62 6LG.

Please send:

I enclose a cheque P.O. for

Name

Address

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

7000-7030 Pause subroutine. The P
key, if pressed during the
game, stops the game to
allow you to go and get a
cup of coffee (or tiffin).

8000-8580 Instructions.

PLQTJ , 2, 32: NEXTJ
7030 RETURN

7990 REM »** INSTRUCTIONS ***

8000 CLS

80 10 PR I NTSPC (15)" ESCAPE "

8020 PRINT:

8030 PR I NT "THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO
GET YOUR MAN ACROSS THE MINEFIELD OR";
8040 PRINT" THROUGH THE MAZE BEFORE ’T
IME : ’ RUNS OUT.

8050 PR I NT "AT THE START OF EACH SCREEN
'TIME' WILL BE SET TO 350,

8060 PR I NT "GRENADES ARE SET AT 4."

8070 PRINT" IF 7 TIME' REACHES ZERO THEN A
LIFE IS LOST AND ’TIME’ IS RESET
3080 PR I NT "TO ONLY 200 INSTEAD OF 350."
8090 PR I NT" YOUR MEN ARE EACH EQUIPPED WI
TH A MINEDETECTOR AND FOUR ";

8100 PRINT "GRENADES. WHEN IN THE VIC IN
ITY OF A MINE YOU WILL HEAR A";

8110 PR 1 NT " CL I CK I NG SOUND, BUT THE MINE
COULD BE IN ANY ONE OF THREE ";

0120 PRINT "DIRECTIONS. "

0125 PR I NT "A GRENADE WHEN THROWN WILL LA
ND T'WC PACES AWAY " :

8130 PRINT "TO HIT ANY PARTICULAR SPOT";
8140 PR I NT "YOU MAY NEED TO MOVE YOUR MAN

8150 PR I NT "YOU MAY ALSO USE GRENADES TO
KNOCK DOWN A WALL IF YOU ARE ";

8 1 60 PR I NT " BLOCKED . "

8170 PR I NT "THE GAME STARTS WITH A MINEFI
ELD AND -PROGRESSES TO AN INFINITY ";
8180 PRINT "OF MAZES."

8185 PRINT" NB EACH MAN HAS 4 GRENADES P
ER SCREEN"

8190 PRINT" PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
8200 GETA*

8210 CLS

8220 PRINT:PRINTSPC<8) "SCORING IS AS FOL
LOWS"

8230 PRINT:

8240 PR I NT "EACH STEP FORWARD 10 PO

I NTS"

8250 PRINT:

8260 PR I NT "EACH STEP BACK — ";CHR*(27); M
LM I NUS " ; CHR* ( 27 ) 5 " H20 PO I NTS "

8270 PRINT:

8280 PRINT "HIT MINE WITH GRENADE - 25 PO
I NTS"

8290 PRINT:

8300 PRINT "SURVIVING EACH SCREEN - 50 PO
INTS"

8310 PR I NT: PR IN'" PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTI
NUE"

8320 GETA*

8330 CLS
8340 PRINT:

8350 PR I NTSPC (6 > "CONTROL KEYS ARE AS FOL
LOWS"

8360 PRINT:

8370 PRINT" TO MOVE YOUR MAN USE THE RELE
VANT CURSOR (ARROW) KEY"

8380 PRINT:

8390 PR I NT "TO THROW A GRENADE USE THE FO
LLOWING"

8400 PRINT:

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

Replacing your Cassette with a
Disk Drive, means DATA ACCESS
in less than 5 seconds!

If you are looking for a guaranteed
Disk Drive, fully BBC compatable,
at a price that includes VAT,
formating disk, user manual, cases
and leads, then just look at
our all-inclusive prices!

^TEAC SLIMLINE DRIVES

\ Including VAT /ft

f!4C A

7ZACSS

‘ 7254£Sir

SINGLE DRIVES CASED VAT VAT

40 TRACK 100K £166 £144.35

40 TRACK 200K £230 £200 00

40/00 TRACK SWITCHABLE 200 K £199 £173.05

40/00 TRACK SWITCHABLE 400 K £257 £223 40

Incl. Excl.

DUAL DRIVES CASED VAT VAT

40 TRACK 200K £320 £270 26

40/00 TRACK SWITCHABLE 400K £402 £349.57

40/00 TRACK SWITCHABLE 0OOK £520 £452.10

DFS KIT £75 £65.22

P.S.U. £32.20 £20

MITSUBISHI DRIVES

4*/ *T

400K SINGLE DRIVE £213 04 £245

800K DUAL

£379

£435.85

800K & POWER SUPPLY

£399

£458.85

‘These drives are fully compatable with other Computers and can be used should
you change your computer.

r r v

Vialerv

COMPUTER § SUPPLIES l*

* Check our special terms for
Departments

BY POST

To purchase any of the terns
simply M n you t requirements
k steel abovem the coupon
Enclose your cheque/P O
or use your Access or Barclaycard
Please make cheque payable to.
V1GLEN COMPUTER SUPPLES
and post to address below,
allow 7 to 14 days for detvery
& add i 8-00 postage
package & insurance on at prices
BY TELEPHONE
( 01 ) 843 9903
Credit Card holders
(Access/Barclay Card only)
can purchase by telephone
Please give Card No. Name

Address and Ihe item required

&J4U/A5 ABOUT JtX/4

UNIT 7 TRUMPERS WAY
HANWELL W7 2QA
Tet (01) 843 9903

Educational Establishments and Government

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME

| >ost to; VIGLENCOMPUTER SUPRJETuNrr T
TRUMPERS WAY HANWELL W7 2QA

Please send me the following items

I enclose Cheque/P.O for £

I prefer to pay Access/Barclaycard
(Delete whichever not applicable)

CARD No _
SIGNATURE .

NAME

ADDRESS _

OHH1 CAMS VALID IF SIQH) BY CAMP »«»!»».

AOTtt.SS MM HKT » t» SAI* AS CAM! WH»*. MftM I

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

1

8410 PRINT" TO THROW RIGHT USE KEY

” 2 * "

8420 PRINT:

8430 PR I NT "TO THROW LEFT USE KEY

’ 1’ "

8440 PRINT:

8450 PR I NT" TO THROW FORWARD USE KEY

’Q' "

8460 PRINT:

8470 PR I NT "TO THROW BACKWARD USE KEY

'A' "

8480 PR I NT: PRINT:

8490 PRINT" TO HALT THE GAME FOR ANY
REASON"

8500 PRINT :PRINT"USE KEY 'P' (Pause

/ Restart)"

8510 PR I NT: PR I NT" PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTI
NUE"

8520 GETA*

8530 CLS

8540 PRINT: PRINT: PRINT"PRESS ” M' IF YOU
WISH HI/I.DW SCORE"

8545 PRINT"MUSIC TO BE PLAYED"

8550 PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT "ANY OTHER KEY WIL
L TURN MUSIC OFF"

8560 GETA*

8570 IFA*="M"THENZZ=0: CLS: RETURN
8580 ZZ=-1: CLS: RETURN

13990 REM *** SUBROUTINE FOR HI-SCORE

AMAZING !!!

FOR THE VIC-20

The all NEW Fox switchable 16K Ram
cartridge can now be ( unlike others)
switched without removing from VIC-20

ALSO • Gives you the option of 16K, 8K or 3K in one cartridge.

• Simply plugs into rear port.

• Fully compatible with all existing motherboards.

• Fully guaranteed (1 year).

• 14 day moneyback guarantee if not delighted.

• No re-addressing of existing Basic programs needed.

ALL THIS FOR ONLY £33.95 INCL.

Plow tend me »*iuhaMe Ram cartmifc *

I endow < .nr Dehn my Barela lord No

I . I I I I I I I I I I ~I~T~I

Nik

Addrru 1

Chmtm emtomm pkmt 0.30

FOX

ELECTRONICS

141 \Kltl \ KIHIMHMM.MOKKIHMV II I :025*2lR.7l
< 1/ / / N\ \\ 1 1 ( tt\ll

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

PCN PROGRAMS ORIC-1 48K

14000 -

14240

15000 -

15170

20000 -

20090

40000 -

40070

High score music.

MUSIC ***

1 4000 I F Z Z“- 1 THENRETURN
14005 Z=0

14010 A$= " 37 : 78573 : 8753 "

14020 B*="59<9:795<:975"

14030 C*=A*

14040 RJRV=1T03
14050 FOR J = 1 T GLEN ( A* )

1 4060 X=A3C(MID$(A* > J, l) ) -48

14070 MUSI Cl * 3, X. 6

14030 MUSIC2, 7, X , 9

14090 PLAY7, 0,0,0

14100 WAIT 10

14110 MUSIC1 ,4, X , 5

14120 MUSIC2, 6, X , 9

14130 MUSIC3, 3, X, 9

14140 PLAY7, 6,0,6

14150 WAIT12

14160 NEXTJ

14170 WAIT25

14180 I F Z=- 1 THENA*=C* : GO TO 1 42 1 0
14190 Z=-1:A*=B*

14210 NEXTY
•4220 WAIT10
14230 PLAYO, 0,0,0
14240 RETURN

14990 REM *** LOW SCORE MUSIC ***

15000 I FZZ=-1 THENRETURN
15010 A$="68: 8; : 5685686: 8356"

1 5020 B*= " 1 56586 135115165111 -
15030 F0RJ=1 TOLEN < A$ )

15040 IFJ=6THENWAIT50

15050 IFJ= 10THENWA I T90

15060 I F J = 1 5THENWA 1 T50

15070 X=ASC<MIDS<A*, J, 1) ) -48

15080 Y=ASC < M I D$ ( , J , 1 ) ) “48

15090 PLAY7, 0,0,0

15100 MUSIC1 , 3, Y, 9

15110 MUSIC2,3, X, 10

15120 MUSIC3, 4, X, 11

15130 WAIT20

15140 NEXT

15150 WAIT90

15160 PLAYO, 0,0,0

15170 RETURN

19990 REM *** RE-DEFINE CHARACTERS ***
20*000 FQRA=1T05: READ B
20010 FOR J=0T07: READ D
20020 P0KE46080+ J + ( 3* B ) , D
20030 NEXTJ, A

20040 DATA98, 0, 0, 0, O, 0, 0, 0, 0
20050 DATA 102, 12, 12,30,45, 12,30, 18, 13
20060 DATA 107,0,0,0,0,6,0,0,24
20070 DAT A 1 09 ,0,0, 2, 2, 16, 16,0,0
20080 DATA95, 0,0,0, 1,1,14,10,58
20090 RETURN

39990 REM *** RE-DEFINE ’ ! ' TO MEAN
PRINT AT (PRINT 0) ***

40000 REPEAT
40010 READD
40020 P0KE#400+C, D
40030 C=C+ 1 : UNT I LD=#FF

40040 DATA#20, #96, #D9, #AC, #F8, #02, #C8, #8
C, #69, #02, #A5, # IF, #A4, #20, #85, #12, #84
40050 DATA# 1 3 , # A9 , #3B , #20 , #DB , #CF , #4C , #6
1 , #CB, #FF

40060 D0KE#2F5, #400
40070 RETURN

Low score music.

Redefines the characters.

Redefines ! to mean print at.
Note that this routine is
borrowed from the users
manual.

Totally devoted toyou!

Oric Owner is the official magazine devoted to the Oric 1 and Atmos home computers and it's supporting
hardware and software.

It s crammed full of in-depth information, advance news on the latest add-ons, superb programs and

interviews with the engineers who designed it.

The first issue is absolutely free when you buy your
Oric, so why not keep ahead of the latest developments
and subscribe to further issues. A years subscription
of 6 issues is now only £10 (£15 overseas) so post
the coupon today.

life without it?

ORIC OWNER SUBSCRIPTION FORM

Please send me the next 6 rssues

1 1 enclose a cheque for (cheques payable to Tansoft Ltd) I

| Name j

| Address |

Port la

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| free issue contact your dealer or One Products International who will I
supply you with one

s ~ »ur i Tansoft Ltd. Units 1 & 2
i Cambridge Techno Park Newmarket Road. Cambridge CBS 8PB

New-Sindair QL

There's no comparison chart, fc

tion Figure*

itM Bgti

gk The Sinclair QL is a new computer.

Not just a new Sinclair computer,
but a totally new sort of computer -
nothing like it exists anywhere.

Its not just a bit better than this,
or a bit cheaper than that - it's a
computer that's very hard to compare
with anything. Just check the features
below - and if you don’t agree, take
up the challenge at the end of the
advertisement

Exclusive: new QDOS
operating system

No competition! QDOS sets a new
idard in oper

If you do agree, there's only

n take...

one course of action you can
get yourself a Sinclair QL at the
earliest possible moment

standard in operating systems for the
68000 family of processors, and may
well become the industry standard
QDOS is a single-user, multi-
tasking, time-sliced system using
Sinclair^ new SuperfiASIC as a
command language

One of its most significant
features is its very powerful multi-

tasking capability - the ability to rur
several programs individually and

The Sinclair QL has
128K RAM. Big deal?

Several micros offer 128K RAM or
more, as standard The What Micro?"
table for December 1983 lists over
50 of them - but 40 of the 50 micros
listed cost over £2,500*

The Sinclair QL offers you 128K
RAM for under £400. and an option
to expand to 640K. That’s a lot of
bytes to the pound!

simultaneously It can also display the
results simultaneously m different
portions of the screen. These are
features not normally available on
computers costing less than £7.000.

Eleven input/output ports

QL ROM Cartridge slot

2 x Joystick ports 2xRS-232-C

The Sinclair QL has
a 32-bit processor.
Who else?

Under £2,700. nobody Even the new
generation of business computers,
such as the IBM PC are only now
beginning to use 16-bit processors.

At prices like this, the Motorola
68000 family - widely regarded as
the most powerful microprocessors
available - will remain a luxury
Yet with the Sinclair QL. the
32-bit Motorola 68008 is available
for less than £400

You can also be sure that theQL
will not become outdated 32-bit
architecture is future- proof

— Expansion slot

32-bit processor architecture. 128K
RAM and QDOS combine to give
the QL the performance of a mini-

New professional
keyboard

The QL keyboard is designed for fast
input of data and programs
It is a full-size QWERTY
keyboard, with 65 keys, including a
space bar. left-and nght-hand shift
keys; five function keys, and four
separate cursor-control keys - key
action is positive and precise
A membrane beneath the
keyboard protects the machine from
dust (and coffee 1 ), and for users who
find an angled keyboard more
comfortable, the comDuter can be

<® Srndaa, QL QOOS. QLU8 and ZX Mrcrodnve
are trade maria of Saida* Reward! Ltd

£399

ecause there's no comparison!

Advanced new friendly
language - Sinclair
SuperBASIC

The new Sinclair SuperBASIC
combines the familiarity of BASIC with
a number of major developments
which allow the QL* full power to be
exploded

Unlike conventional BASIC its
procedure facility allows code to be
written in dearly-defined blocks; ex-
tendability allows new procedures to
be added which will work in exactly
the same way as the command pro-
cedures built into the ROM. and its
constant execution speed means that
SuperBASIC does not get slower as
programs get larger

2 x Local area network

Two 100K microdrives
built in

The Microdrives for the Sinclair QL
are identical in principle to the
popular and proven ZX Microdnves,
but give increased capacity (at least
100K bytes each) and a faster data-
transfer rate Typical access speed is
3.5 seconds, and loading is at up to
15K bytes per second The Sinclair QL
has two built-in Microdnves. If
required, a further six units can be
connected

Four blank cartridges are
supplied with the machine

©Quill. Easel. Archive and Abacus
are trade marks of Ps*on Ltd

Induded - superb professional software

The suite of four programs is written by Psion specially for the QL and
incorporates many major developments. All programs use full colour, and
data is transportable from one to another. (For example, figures can be
transferred from spreadsheet to graphics for an instant visual presentation.)

Word-processing

Certain to set a new standard of
excellence. QL Quill uses the power of
the QL to show on the screen exactly
what you key in, and to print out
exactly what you see on the screen.

A beginner can be using QL
Quill for word-processing within
minutes

QL Quill brin£ you all the
facilities of a very advanced word-
processing package

QL Easel is a high-resolution colour
program so easy to use you probably
won’t refer to the manual' It handles
anything from lines shaded curves or
histograms to overlapping or stacked
bars or pie charts QL Easel does not
reouire you to format your display
before entenng data, it handles design
and scaling automatically or under
your control. Text can be added and
altered as simply as data.

Spreadsheet

QL Abacus makes simultaneous
calculations and What if model-
construction easier than they've ever
been Sample applications are
provided, including budget-planning
and cash flow analysis QL Abacus
allows you to refer to rows columns
and cells by names not just letters
and numbers Function keys can be
assigned to change a variable and
carry out a complete What if
calculation with a single key stroke.

Database management

QL Archive is a very powerful filing
system which sets new standards using
a language even simpler than BASIC
It combines ease of use for simple
applications - such as card indices -
with huge power as a multi file data
processor

An easy-to-use labelling facility
means that you don’t have to ask for
your file by its full name - a few letters
are enough

New - the Sindair QLUB

The QLUB is the QL Users Bureau
Membership is open to all QL owners
For an annual subscnption of £35,
QLUB members receive one free
update to each of the four programs
supplied with the QL, and six
bi-monthly newsletters Sinclair has
also made exclusive arrangements
for QLUB members to obtain soft-
ware assistance on QL Quill. Abacus
Archive or Easel by writing to Psion

The Sindair QL challenge

If you’re seriously considering any
other computer, post the coupon for a
blow-by-blow comparison. Wte’ll take
a published companion chart for the
machine you’re considenng (not one
we’ve created ourselves) and give you
the Sinclair QL figures detail by detail.

Take action today!

To order by mail

- complete the coupon and send
it to the FREEPOST address below
For credit card holders it may be
possible to extend your credit limit
Full details will be sent when we
acknowledge your order.

To order by telephone

- phone Camberley (0276) 685311;

- have your credit card (Access
Bardaycard. Trust card) number ready.
It may be possible to extend your
existing credit limit Please ask our
telephone staff for more details
Please do not use this number for
other enquiries

For more information

Phone Camberley (0276) 686100. or
use the coupon to get a QL brochure
Due to demand, delivery may take
more than 28 days Vbur order wiH be
acknowledged immediately with an
expected shipment date. Remember
that Sinclair offers a 14-day money-
back undertaking

Send to: Sindair Research Ltd. Computer Division. FREEPOST Camberley. Surrey. GUI 5 3BR.

Qty Nam Code MuMcef lbtrif

Sindair QL Computer 6000 399.00

QLUB membership (one year) 6100 3500

Postage & packing (any order over £390) 6999 795

Please tick the appropriate box-

n I endose a cheque made payable to Smdair Research Ltd for £ £-

[ ! Please charge my Access/Bardaycard Trust card Account No I I 1 I I — I — I — I — I — I — I — L

Signature

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hd&m i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i l

l l l l I I i l l I l l 1 I l l I I I I I

n Please send me a chart comparing the Smdair QL compiler with a

t ; Please send me a SmdaxQL brochure

Sindair Research Ltd, Stanhope Road, Camberley. Surrey, GU15 3 PS.

I I l l l l l l l l l 1 1 J

i i i I I I l I I I I l l l

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I1I4V/

CYBOTRON

Robots are marching relentlessly
towards you from all diraclions
Attacking in wav* after wave thay
ara datarmmad to wipa out the
human race There are twenty
levels including three special
waves BRAIN WAVE GRUNT
WAVE and TANK WAVE, with
powers to mutate the humans,
create pulsars and quasars and

SPACE PILOT

Realise your dreams of being king
skies Fly your
aircraft into unrelenting dog fights
"i enemy fighters Prove how
well you can handle your craft
Five stages of spectacular scenic
graphics Two player option

JS £7 96

ZODIAC

An arcade adventure of awesome
proportions The evil powers of
hell have scattered the signs of
ZODIAC m the 400 chambers of
THE ABYSS You have to find and
recover these magical creations
and fight all the way by
annihilating all those who stand
in your way

JS £798

JUNGLE DRUMS

Join the action packed safari on a
twenty screen tourney through
the lush jungles and swamps to
an ancient Artec temple The
gorillas, the ptrahna fish, the
crocodiles, the snakes and the
spiders not to mention the
woodoo man leave very little time
for you to collect the clues that will
open the temple gates leading to
the treasure

JS. £798

BONGO

Enjoy the hilarious antics of the
Comical Mouse as he overcomes
all dangers to win the heart of the
lovely princess by collecting her

ladders slide down the shutes
use transporters and trampolines
to jump across divides to escape
and outwit his pursuers You will
be enchanted by the smooth pmel
movement of multicolour soft
sprites Six screens with three
levels of difficulty

JS £7 96

3D TIME TREK II

K.B./J.S. £6 96

GALAXY

KB/JS £796

SKRAMBLE

JS £796

KONG

KB/JS £796

MOON BUGGY

JS £796

HEXPERT

J S £7 96

THE DUNGEONS

K B £6 96

DARK DUNGEONS

KB £6 96

COSMIC COMMANDO

J S Stack Ught Rifle £6.96

INDIAN ATTACK

J S /Stack light Rifle £6 96

STAR BASE DEFENCE

J S /Stack Ught Rifle £6 95

CLUBNET

If vour association has something special on the agenda or ir
you've just started a new one. contact us at Clubnei, Personal
Computer Xews, VNU, 62 Oxford Street, London W1A 2H(i.
Cluhnet keeps you in touch with enthusiasts throughout the
country . It is divided into dubs and user groups and lists of both
will be published every four weeks.

Talking

shop

Let us know about your micro club or user
group so w r e can be sure the information
printed here is up to date. Drop a card to
Wendie Pearson, Listings Editor, at Personal
Computer News, 62 Oxford Street, London
W1A 2HG, or give her a call on 01-636 6890.

When l^ncastcr Computer Club held an
open day at Lancaster Town Hall. 1,300
people came in just a few hourtto see goods
exhibited by local computer shops.

The club's Tuesday meeting venues
alternate between a hotel and the Castle
Computers Shop, and are attended by 50or
so members, over half of whom are school
age.

The shop is owned by club chairman
David Smith who supplies new products
< for examination.

1 At these programmers’ Workshop
meetings members also learn machine

Acorn

Coventry Acom Atom User Group Peter
Frost. 18 Frankwell Orwe. Coventry 0203
613156

Kent Medway Acorn User Group Meets at
St John F.sfier School on last Monday of
month at 7pm Sessions at 9pm Thursday
at the Fox and Hound. Chatham Clem
Rutler. ao St John's Fisher School
Ordance Street. Chatham, Kent. 0634
4281 1 (day). 0634 373459 (evenings)

Manchester Acorn User Group Meets at
AMC. Crescent Road. Crupsall Manchester
8 on Tuesday except school holidays John
Ashurst. 192 Vendure Close. Failsworth
Manchester 061-681 4962
Apple

Ashtead Apple User Group Meets first
Monday of every month Contact M
Lawrence. 15 Petters Road Ashtead,

Surrey

British Apple Systems User Group. P0 Box
174 Watford W02 6NF
British Apple Systems User Group Meets
first Tuesday evening and third Sunday
afternoon every month at Old School ,

code, while the meetings at the hotel
consist of a talk and trying out various ideas
on members’ micros.

At the most recent of these an explana-
tion of programming to maintain the
Sunday Football League tables was fol-
lowed by a talk on BeebCalc. which a local
theatre company uses.

The club has previously held courses on
machine code and Basic at Lancaster
University. They have also built aids to
help spastics at local Beaumont College
learn now to use micros.

‘They’re very good at it,’ said club

member Brian Sheldon. ’They’ve written
some fairly long programs using a bar
strapped to their forehead to tap the keys.'

‘Many of our adult members build their
own hardware.' he said, ‘and at the
moment we’re concentrating on explaining
machine code to the younger members . ’

Wendie Pearson

Meat Lancaster Computer Gub Venue
Greeves Hotel. Grecves Road. Lancaster or
Castle Computers. Lancaster Moettep Every
Tuesday. 7.30pm Contact Brian Sheldon. 0524
423134.

Branch Road. Park Stmt. St Albans Subs
C12 50+ £2 50 |ommg Contact 0 Bolton
0727 72917

Birmingham & Region Apple Group
Contacl Mei Gotder 021-426 2275
Birmingham Midapple User Group Contact
Mertyn Colder at Pool Farm Boys Club.
Hillmeads Road. Kings Norton.

Birmingham

Bristol Apple Users and Dabblers Meets at
10 Wanng House Reddifle Hill. Bnstoi
BS1 6TB once a month EwaOabkowski.
c o Datahnk. 10 Wanng House. Reddifle
Hill Bnstoi BS1 6TB 0272 213427
Buckinghamshire Apple User Group Steve
Profffl. The Granary Hill Farm Road
Marlow Bottom Buckinghamshire 062 84
73074

Chelmsford Apple Users Club Proposed
new dub Contact 0 Buckingham. 571
Gaileywood Road. Chelmsford. M
Chelmsford 66948

Croydon Apple User Group Meets at Stdda
House. 350 Lower Addiscombe Road
Croydon, on second Monday of month
Paul Vernon. 60 Flawkhurst Way West

Wickham. Kent. 01-7775478
London Apple Music Synthesis Group Dr
Oavis Ellis. 22 Lennox Gardens. London
SWl

South East London Apple User Group
(Appletree) Contact John Grieve at 106
Maran Way . Enth. Kent or phone 01 -31 1
7681

Milton Keynes Microcomputer User Group
Meets every Tuesday 7 30pm Brian Pam.
Sir Frank Markham School. Woughton
Centre, Chaffron Way Milton Keynes
Wanington Apple User Group Meets at
Horse 4 Jockey on first Monday of the
month Contact Jim Roscoe Warrington
38101

Nottingham Atari User Group Meets
second and fourth Monday of each month
at the Congregational Federation Centre.
Castle Gate Contact Richard Rose on
Nottingham 623766
Atari

Birmingham User Group Meets at the
Malaga GnN. Matador Public House. Bui
Ring shopping centre. Birmingham, on
second and fourth Thursday every month at

7 30pm Mike Aston. 42 Short Street.
Wednesbury. West Midlands
Carshalton Atan User Club PaulOeogan.
01-642 5232

Lea Valley Atan User Group Meets every
month Details from Matthew Tydeman
125 Cadmore Lane. Cheshunt. Herts
South Cheshire Atari User Group Meets at
the Earl of Crewe. Nantwich Road. Crewe,
on first Thursday of each month at 7 30pm
Contact A Dames 48 Biagg Lane.

Nantwich. Cheshire. 0270 626969
Essex. Contact John Sarrar. 138Fredenck
Road. Ramham. Essex, tel (76) 22077
Meets at Ramham Town Football Club.

7 30pm. second and fourth Fnday of each
month

London Silica Atan 400 600 User Club
Richard Hawes. 01-301 1111
Manchester Atari Computer Enthusiasts
Meets at The Ellesmere. Worsley Road
Worsiey. on the second and last Thursday
of every month Contact Martin Davies.
Bolton 700757

South Middlesex Atan Dub Meets
fortmghtty Tuesdays at Staines Methodist

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1964

80

79

Church Han. Kingston Road. Starnes
Contact Brian Milligan. 50 Lmkscroft
Avenue. Middeiesex Tel Ashford (69)
45387

Norwich Atan User Group Ken Ward.
Norwich 661 149

Preston Atan Computer Enthusiasts Meets
at KSC Club, Merrion House Beach Grove.
Ashton. Preston, on third Thursday of
month at 7 30pm Roger Taylor. 0253
738192

UK Alan Computer Owners Club Contact
PO Box 3. Raleigh. Essex

Atom

Liverpool BBC and Atom User Group
Meets at Old Swan Technical College
Room C33 on first Wednesday ol month at
7 30pm and at Birkenhead Technical
College on third Thursday of month at
7 30pm Nick Kelly . 051-525 2934
(evenings)

BBC

Inverclyde BBC Micro User Group Meets
on third Monday of each month at 9 St
John's Road. Gourock, Renfrewshire
Contact Robert Watt on Gourock 39967
Laserbug is an international user group for
the BBC micro Paul Barbour. 10 Dawtey
Ride. Coinbrook. Slough. Berks. 02812
30614

Beebug. Sheridan Williams or Oavid
Graham at PO Box 50. St Albans.
Hertfordshire AL1 2AR
Bolton BBC micro and Electron User
Group Meets in Room ES 15. Bolton
Institute of Higher Education. Deane Road.
Bolton. Lancs Contact Chns Snee on 0942
720984

Bedford BBC network user group Contact
Tom Short Mike Taylor at the Computer
Centre. Bedford College of Higher
Education. CaukJwell Street. Bedford Tef
0234 45151

Bournemouth BBC User Group Meets at
Lansdowne Computer Centre. 5
Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth on first
and fourth Wednesday of month at
7 30pm Norman Carey. 0202 749612
Brent Barnet User Group Meets on last
Sunday of month Joseph Fox. 4 Harman
Close. London NW2 2EA
Charlton A District (South Manchester)
BBC Micro User Group Contact Philip
Harrison. 34 Holwood Drive. Manchester
M16 8WS

Chelmbeg. Contact Ian on Chelmsford
69174

Cardiff BBC Microcomputer Club Meets
alternate Wednesdays at Applied Science
Lecture Theatre. University College.
Newport Road. Cardiff
Format 40 80 Club (BBC Disk User Group)
Send SAE to Peter Hughes. Five Marsh
Street. Bnstol BS1 4AA
Huddersfield BBC User Group meets third
Wednesday of each month Contact Stuart
Mall.nson on 0484 685395. eves or write
to 34 Ryefield. Schoies Huddersfield.

West Yorks

Liverpool BBC & Atom Group Meets on
the first Wednesday of every month at Old
Swan Technical College Room C33. 7 30-
9 30pm. and on the third Thursday at
Birkenhead Tech College. 7 30-9 30pm
Contact Nik Kelly. 56 Queens Drive.

Walton. Liverpool L4 6SH
North London BBC Micro Users Group
Meets at The Pnnce of Wales. 37 Fortune
Green Road, on Tuesdays at 7pm Dr Leo
McLaughlin Westfield College. University
of London, Kidderpore Avenue London
NW3 7ST. 01-4350109
Northern North Sea User Group Potential
members with helicopters welcome
Contact lan Wiltons on board MSV Stadwe.
Brent Field. East Shetland Basin. Northern
North Sea (100 mrtes off Shetland Islands)
Nottingham BBC User Group meets on
second Monday of each month Contact
John Day on 0602 225660
Norwich A District 8BC Microcomputer
User Group Meets at Norwich City College

on the first and third T uesday of every
month at 7pm Subs E3; students and
OAPs Cl 50 Contact Paul Beveney.
Department of Electronics . Norwich City
College. Ipswich Road Norwich NR2 2U
Preston area BBC Micro User Group
Meets at Plough Hotel Lea Preston, on
last Tuesday of month at 7 30pm Duncan
Coulter. 8 Bnar Grove. Ingoi. Preston
Lancashire. 0772 725793
Tyne A Wear BBC User Club Contact Ian
Waugh 13 Bnardene Dnve. Wardley. Tyne
A Wear NE10 8AN

Wakefield BBC Micro User Group Meets at
Hoimheid House Clarence Park
Wakefield on first Wednesday of each
month at 7 30pm Contact R Briton tel
Wakefield 382274

Wellingborough BBC Owners User Group
Contact R Houghton. 49 Addington Road
Irthimgborough

Witham i NAMEBUG) BBC Micro User
Group Meets at comprehensive school.
Witham on second Thursday each month at
7 30pm Dave Watts 0245 358127 after
7pm

Basic

Welwyn Basic User Group meets on last
Friday of each month at 7pm Contact Debt
Cofthorpe. 36 Birds Close Welwyn Garden
City . Herts Tel Welwyn Garden (96)

30062

Comal

London Comal User Group Meets at
Polytechnic of North London, Holloway,
second Wednesday of month, term time
John Collins . 75 74111

CUA

CUA User Group Adrian Waters 9 Moss

Lane Romford. Essex

Commodore ICPUG
Basildon. Contact Walter Green. 151 The
Hathertey. Basildon Essex
Bloxham Contact John Temple
Kirabanda. Rose Bank, Bloxham. Oxon
Barnsley Bob Wool. 13 Ward Green.
Barnsley South Yorkshire. 0226 85084
Blackpool Meets at Arnold School.
Blackpool, on third Thursday of month
David Jarrett. 197 Victoria Road. Thornton
Cievefeys Blackpool FY5 3ST
Birmingham Contact J A McKam PPI Ltd.
177 Loalls Road. Birmingham, tel 021-
544 0202

Bournemouth A Poole. Contact Oouglas
Shave. 97 Cantoed CMfs Road Pode
0orsetBH13 7EP

Bury St Edmunds Contact Alan Morns. 30
Kelso Road. Bury St Edmunds. Suffolk
Burnley. Contact John Ingham. 72 Ardwick
Street Burnley. Lancashire
Canterbury SE. Meets at The Physics Lab.
Canterbury University on first Tuesday and
Wednesday of month R Moseley
Rosemount Romney HMI. Maidstone. 0622
37643

Carrickfergus Oawd Bolton 19
Carnckburn Road. Carrickfergus. Antnm
BT38 7ND 09603 63788
Chelmsford Contact A G Sumdge. 97
Shelley Road. Chelmsford Essex
Cheltenham. Meets at the Cheltenham
Ladies College on last Thursday of month at
7 30pm Alison Schofield. 78 Hesters Way
Road Cheltenham Gloucester. 0242
580789

Cfwyd John Poole. 6 Ridgway Close.
Connah s Quay. Clwyd CHS 4LZ
Corby. Peter Ashby. 215 Wmcohn Way
Corby Northamptonshire 05363 4442
Coventry Meets at Stoke Park School and
County College at 7pm on fourth
Wednesday of month except July August.
December WiN Light. 22 Ivybndge Road
Stvyechale Coventry Warwickshire
Derby. Meets at Derby Professional Colour
every other Tuesday at 7pm Robert Watts,
03322 72569

Derbyshire A District Meets every other
Monday 7-9pm at Davidson Richards Ltd
14 Dufflied Road. Oerby Contact Raymond

Davies. 105Normanton Road. Derby DEI
2GG

Devon Contact Matthew Stibbe The Lawn.
Lower Woodfieid Road. Torquay. Devon
Durham North-East Pet and ICPUG Meets
at Lawson School. Burnley at 7pm second
and third Mondays Jim Cocallis. 20
Worcester Road. Newton Hall Estate.
Durham 038567045
Dyfed Simon Kmveton 097 086 303
Gosport Meets at Bury House. Bury Road
Gosport. Hants at 7pm Contact Tony Cox.
10 Staplers Reach. Rowner. Gosport
Hants

Hainault. Meets at Grange Remedial
Centre Woodman Path. Hamault Carol
Taylor. 101 Courtlands Avenue. Cranbrook.
Ilford. Essex

Glasgow Dr Jim MacBrayne 27 Oaidmyre
Crescent. Newton Mearns Glasgow. 041-
639 5696

Gloucester and Bristol Area. Meets last
Friday of each month Contact Janet Rich.
20 Old Court. Spring Hill. Cam Gloucester
Gloucester North ICPUG user group meets
last Thursday ol each month Contract R
C Harvey on 0240 527588
Hampshire Meets at 70 Reading Road.
Famborough. on third Wednesday of
month Ron Geere. 109 York Road.
Famborough Hants. 0252 542921
Hants. Contact Tony Cooke. 7 Russell
Way Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 4LD
Hertfordshire North. Meets at Provident
Mutual Assurance. Purweli Lane. Hitchm.
on last Wednesday of month B Grainger
73 Mmehead Way Stevenage. Herts SGI
2HS. 0438 727925

Kilmarnock Meets at Symington Pnmary
School on first and third Thursday of month
at 7pm John Smith. 19 Brewtands Road.
Symington Kilmarnock KA1 5RW. 0563
830407

Liverpool. Meets at The Merchant Taylor
School for Boys Crosby on second
Thursday of month at 7pm Tony Bond. 27
I nee Road. Liverpool L234UE. 051-924
1505

Llandyssal. Contact F Townsend. The Hill
Rhydowen LlandyssuL 054555291
London. Alan Birks. 135 Queen Alexandra
Mansions. Judd Street. London WC1 .
01-430 8025

London North. Barry Miles. Department of
Business Studies. North London
Polytechnic. Holloway Road. London N7.
01-6072789

Maidstone Meets on the first Wednesday
of every month contact Ron Moseley. Lord
Romney Hill. Weavenng Maidstone Kent.
0622 37643

Mapparfey. Meets at Amok) A Carlton
College Digby Avenue Mapperley every
Friday Contact Mark Graves 8 Digby Hall
Drive Gunthorpe Road. Gedimg Notts
NG4 4JT

Merseyside Meets fortnightly Contact P
Leather , 27 St Luke s Drive. Formby
Merseyside tel 36 74694
National. Contact Membership Secretary
30 Brancoates Road. Newbury Park. Ilford
Essex 1G23 7EP

Norfolk Proposed new dub Contact J
Blair 7 Beach Road. Cromer. Norfolk
Norfolk Peter Petts. Bramiey Hale
Wretton. King's Lynn. Norfolk PE33 90S.
0366 500692

Northampton Contact Peter Ashby. 215
Lincoln Way. Corby. Northants
Northern Ireland Meets last Wednesday of
each month Contact Oavid Weddell 9
Upper Cavehrfl Road Belfast BT155EZ,
0232-711580

Northumberland Graham Saunders, 22
Front Street. Guide Post Northumberland
Nottingham Commodore User Group
meets fourth Monday ol each month —
contact Christopher Solomon on
Nottingham 873228
Rhyl. Contact Frank Jones. 77 Millbank
Road. Rhyl Clywd 0745 54820
Slough Meets at Slough College on second
Thursday of month at 7 30pm Bnan
Jones. 53 Beechwood Avenue Woodley.

Reading RG5 30F. 0734 661494
Somerset. Contact Paul Montague 12
Laxton Close Taunton Somerset
South-East Regional Group Meets at
Charles Darwin School. Jail Lane. Biggin
Hill, Kent, on third and fourth Thursday of
month at 7 30pm Jack Cohen. 30
Brancaster Road Newbury Park. Ilford.
Essex 01-5971229

South Midlands Meets at 12 York Street.
Stourport-on-Seuem on last Thursday of
month M J Merriman at above address
Staffordshire 57 Clough Hall Road.
Kidsgrove. Stoke-on-Trent
Stourport-on Severn Meets last Thursday
of each month Contact M Merriman 12
York Street. Stourport
Teddington G Squibb 108 Teddmgton
Park Road. Teddington Middlesex 01-977
2346

Watford Meets on second Monday of
month Stephen Rabagtiati . c o Institute of
Grocery Dist Grange Lane. Letchmore
Heath Watford Herts 01-779 7141
Witney Contact lan Blyth. 40 Wiimot
Close. Witney 5171

Wolverhampton Meets on first and third
Thursday of each month Contact J
Bowman. 6 The Oval. Albrighton.
Wolverhampton. W Midlands

Commodore 64

National Commodore 64 Independent
Users Club Contact Clive Embrey 17
Santon Ave. Faliowtield. Manchester or
Keith Bowden. 47 Park Ave. Barking,

Essex, enclosing SAE

Somerset 3891 1 Bytes Free User Group tor
Commodore 64 owners in the south-west
Contact P Montague on 0823 75630

Commodore Pet

Blackpool West Lancashire Pet Users
Club Meeis at Arnold School . Blackpool on
the third Thursday ol month 0 Jowett. 197
Victoria Road. East Thornton. Blackpool
FY5 35T

Southern Users ol Pets Association

Howard Pilgrim. 42 Compton Road.
Brighton BN 1 SAN

Pet User Group Crawley. Richard Dyer 33
Parham Road. Ilheid. Crawley
Pet Users Education Group Dr Chris
Smith. Department of Physiology. Queen
Elizabeth College. Camden Hill Road.
London W8 7 AH

UK Pel Users Club. 360 Euston Road
London NW1 3BL

Pet Users Group. Meets at Polytechnic of
North London, Eden Grove Room 320 On
alternate Tuesdays. 6pm Barry Miles 01 •
607 2789

Pet User Club. Margaret Gulliford. 818
Leigh Road. Slough Industrial Estate. 0753
74111

Independent Pet Users Group 57 Clough
Hail Road, Kielsgrove. Stoke-on-Trent.
Staffordshire

Commodore Vic

National Association of Vic-20 Owners
Contact S Tomananek, 20 Milner Road.
Sherwood Nottingham
Burnley John Ingham. 72 Ardwick Street.
Burnley Lancashire

Clwyd . Contact A Stanners 1 92A Willow
Park Queensferry Deeside Clwyd Wales.
816603

London Vic Users Group Meets on
alternate Tuesdays at 6 30pm at
Polytechnic of North London. Community
Centre Robin Bradbeer
London Contact Jim Chambers
Department of Psychology. University
College London. Gower Street. London.
WC1. 01-387 7050 x 413 Meets at
University College. 26 Bedford Way.

London WC1 . third Tuesday of each month
at 8pm

Norfolk J Blair 7 Beach Road. Cromer.
Norfolk 0263 512849

Compucolour

Caversham. Compucolour Users Group
UK Meets at Community Centre.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1 W4

CLUBNET

Caversham Pjrti Village twice a year Peter
Miner. 11 Pennycrott Harpenden
Hertfordshire. 05827 64872

CP M

Chi Hern CP M User Group. Contact
Kenneth Hirst, Welwyn Garden City 28723
Irish CP M Users Group. Meets monthly in
Dublin area Doug Motley Gardner House,
Baltsbndge. Dublin 4. Dublin 686411
London CP M User Group (UK) Subs
£7 50 Produces newsletter Contact David
Powys-Lybbe. 01-2470691
UK CP M Users Group Lesley Spicer 1 1
Sun Street. London EC2M 2Q0. 01-247
0691

COSMAC

COSMAC Users Group James
Cunningham. 7 Marrowden Court.
Harrowden Road. Luton, Bedfordshire.
0582 423934

OAI

DAI UK User Group Manchester Contact
Dave Atherton 16 Douglas Street
Atherton. Manchester Tel 0942 876210

d BASE 11

UK d Base 11 User Group Contact Ian
Turner at Ashton Tate (UK) Ltd. on 0908
568866

Decus

Decus UK & Ireland. Contact Tracey
Pardoe. DECUS. PO Box 53 Reading.
Berks RG20TW

Digital Equipment

Digital Equipment Users Society. The

Secretary PO Box 53. Reading. Berkshire
0734 387725

Dragon

Cornwall St Austell Dragon User Group

Contact Martin Starkie on Par 4922
Slough Contact J Gnftin 1 Garrard Road
Bntwell Estate Slough Tel 75 35268

Greater Manchester Contact Melvin
Franklin, 40 Cowiees Westhoughton.
Bolton Lancs

Nottingham Oragon User Group Meets
second Monday ol each month Contact
Mike Johnson on Nottingham 288541
Ware Dragon User Group Contact Paul
Kennedy. 61 Broadmeads Am well End.
Ware. Herts Tel Ware 68264

Epson HX20

London Contact Terence Ronson 25
Sawyers Lawn. Drayton Bridge Road.
Ealing W1 3 01-9981494
Luton. The Oragon s Den Contact D
Buckingham. 83 Neville Road. Unbury.
Luton. Beds

Education

Birmingham. Education ZX80 81 User
Group Eric Deeson Highgate School.
Balsali Heath Road. Highgate Birmingham
B1290S

Birmingham MUSE National body tor
co-ordinating activity m schools colleges
Lorraine Boyce. MUSE Information Office.
WesttMli College Weoley Park Road.
Birmingham 021- 471 3723
Oublin. Computer Education Society of
Ireland Dairmuid McCarthy 7 St Kevins
Park. Kiknacud. Blackrock Co Dublin
Middlesex. Educational Users Group
Offshoot of National TRS-80 Users Group
Dave Fletcher Head Teacher Beaconsfiek)
First and Middle School. Beaconsfiek)
Road. Southall Middlesex
Worcestershire Mini and Microcomputer
Users m Education National organisation
R Trigger 48 Chadcote Way. CatshiM.
Bromsgrove. Worcestershire B61 0JT

Electron

Independent national user group tor the

Acorn Electron Contact PO Box 50. St
Albans. Herts

Forth

Forth Users Group. David Husband 2
Gorieston Road. Branksome. Poole. Dorset
BH121NW 0202 764724
Forth Interest Group UK. Meets at Room
408 South Bank Polytechnic London SE 1
on the first Thursday of the month Contact
K Goldie-Momson Bradden Ok) Rectory
Towcester Northants

Forum

Forum 80 Users Group. Frederick Brown
421 Endike Lane. Hull HU68AG

FX-500P

FX 500 P Users Association Max Francis.
38 Grymsdyke. Great Missenden
Buckinghamshire HP160LP

Genealogists

Society of Genealogists Computer Interest
Group. Anthony Camp 01 -373 7054

Genie

Colour Genie User Group Details of
meetings membership from Pat Doohan.
secretary. Nottingham (0602) 278791

Intel MOS

UK Intel MOS Users Group. Lewis Hard.
eoSPACE The Ok) Coach House
Court Row, Upton-on-Sevem. Worcester
WR80NS

Ithaca Audio S100
Ithaca Audio S100 Users Group. Dave
Weaver 41 Dore Avenue North
Hykenham. Lincoln LN6 8LN

Jupiter Ace

Jupiter Ace Users Group. John Noyce,
Remsoft 18 George Street Brighton BN2
1RH

Lynx

National Independent User-Group Subs
£9 Contact Robert Poat 53 Kmgswood
Avenue. Sanderstead South Croydon CR2
900

Mattel

Mattel Inlelltvision TV Game Group

Warnngton 62215 after 4pm

Medical

National Primary Health Care Group

Contact Dr Nicholas Robinson. 4 Alderney
Avenue Hounslow Middlesex Tel 01 -577
5431

BBC Medical Group. Contact Dr Ken
Walton. 141 Lancelot Road. Wembley.
Middx

Sinclair Medical Group. Contact Dr
Williams. The Medical Centre. Todmorden.
Lancs

Micronet

Micronet Independent User Group Contact
George Foot. Prestei Mailbox No
892852667

Nascom

Berkshire Nascom Thames Valley User
Group Meets at Frogmore Hotel Windsor,
on Thursday fortnightly 8pm Mike
Rothery, 37 Eaton Wick Road. Eton Wick
Windsor Berkshire. Windsor 56106
Birmingham Nascom User Group Meets
at Davenports Socal Club Granville Street
Birmingham on the last Thursday of month.
8pm Martin S*debotham 021-744 3093
International Nascom Microcomputer
Club. 80 Oakhek) Corner Sycamore Road
Amersham Buckinghamshire HP6 5EO
Merseyside Nascom User Group. Meets at
Mona Hotel St James Street Liverpool, on
the first Wednesday of month. 7 30pm Mr
TSearie 051-526 5256

LYNX

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This Is the assembler we use to write our games, it is also a
disassembler, machine code editor and test too It works
with CODE LINES. RAM or ROM, includes a FAST BLOCK
PRINT routine to demonstrate BANK SWITCHING.

AND FROM ANDREW GOSLING £5.95

"TOEDER”

A highly addictive version of a favounte arcade game With 4
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100% Machine Code with fast graphics (yes. fast) and
sound.

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basic or machine code

• Comprehensive user manual.

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Gives fully proportional control, excellent with Missile-base
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All prices inclusive p&p To order send cheque postal order to.

QUASAR SOFTWARE LIMITED

6 Briars Lane. Magtiull. Liverpool L31 6AR
Phone 051-526 4144 for details

82 ►

PCS FEBRUARY 25 IVH4

81

CLUBNET

81

Newbrain

Wakefield Independent Newbrain User
Group Anthony Hodge 15 St John s
Court. Wakefield WF1 2RY
Welwyn. Contact Angela Watluss. 4
Ninmngs Lane. Rabley Meath, Wetwyn
Herts AL69TD

Ohio

Ohio Scientific User Group. Tom Graves
19a West End. Street. Somerset. 0458
45359

Oric

Avon. Contact Bob Green, t Marlborough
Drive. Worte Avon, tel 0934 21315
International Oric Owners User Group
Send Cl 00 plus SAE for details to R
Green. 1 Malborough Drive. Worte. Avon
or phone 0934 510279
Oric Owners Group. Paul Kaufman 3 Club
Mews. Ely Cambridgeshire
Cardiff 12 Tregarth Court. Creigiau.
Cardiff

Kent. Contact Roger Pyatt 23 Arundel
Onvd. Orpington. Kent with SAE or call 66
20281

SCOTLAND

West Lothian One User Group Contact
Stuart Wilson at 21 Loch Aweway.
Whitburn West Lothian EH47 ORJ with
SAE or phone 0501 42673 (eves)
Stratfikelvio One 1 User Group Contact
Colin Fades on 041-776 3654. or SAE to
him at 24 Muirside Ave, Kirkintilloch,
Glasgow G66 3PR

Osborne

British Osborne Owners Group J

Anglesea Flat 19. Rowan House Mitton
Road. Handsworth. Birmingham B20 2JR

OSI

OSI UK User Group. Richard Elen. 12
Bennerley Road London SW1 1 60S
OS-9 User Group . 1 st Floor . 1 6 New North
Parade Huddersfield Contact Mr Ellis.

Tel 0484 51 61 79 day or 0484 864 130 after
6pm

Pascal

Pascal User Group. Nick Hughes. PO Bon
52. Pinner Middlesex HA53FE

POP

Buckinghamshire PDP8 User Group Niger
Dunn. 21 Campion Road. WidmerEnd.
High Wycombe. Buckinghamshire. 0494
714483

Hertfordshire P0P11 User Group Pete
Harris. 1 19 Carpenter Way Potters Bar
Hertfordshire EN6 5QB, 0707 52091

Pilot

UK Pilot User Group Aloe Wood. Wirral
Grammar School lor Boys. Cross Lane.
Bebmgton Wirral. Merseyside LG3 3AQ

Preslel

ACC National Preslel Committee

Administrates Club Spot 800 (hobbyists on
Prestei) Rupert Steele. St John s College.
Oxford 0X1 3JP

Research Machines
Leamington Spa West Midland RML User
Group Spencer instone. CO 59 Avenue
Road. Leamington Spa
Newcastle NERML 3802 User Group
Meets monthly at Micro-Electromcs
Education Centre ot the Polytechnic Coach
Lane Campus Mr Hatfield or Mr Reed.
Computer Unrt. Northumberland Building.
Newcastle Polytechnic 0632 326002
Research Machines National User Group
Contact Jim Cooley RMNUG co Research
Machines Ltd . PO Box 75. Oxford
West Midlands RML User Group Contact
0926 38751

Sharp MZ80

Aberdeen. International Sharp Users
Group Graham Knight. CO Knights
Computers 108 Rossemount Place.
Aberdeen. 0224 630526

Essex Sharp MZ80K User Group Joe
Street. 16 Elmhurst Drive. Hornchurch
Essex RM11 1PE
Leeds Sharp PC121 1 Users Club
Jonathan Dakeyne. 281 Lidgett Lane.

Leeds LSI 7 3AQ

Leeds. Sharp User Group Postal onfy
Enquiries to Craig Kennett. 17 Moseley
Wood Way Cookndge Leeds 16 7HN
Somerset. Sharp MZ80 Users Club Tim
Powell. Computer Centre. Yeovil College.
Yeovil. Somerset BA21 4AE

Sinclair

Aylesbury. Sinclair ZX Computer Club Ken
Kroght 0296 5181

Brighton ZX Users Group J Ireiand-H*
Jnr. 145 Godwin Road. Hove. Brighton
Cotchester Sinclair User Group Meets
tortmghtly Richard Lawn. 102 Prettygate
Road. Colchester. Essex
Cardiff. ZX Dub Meets on last Sunday of
month. 2pm Mike Hayes 54 Oakley Place,
Grangetown Cardiff. 0222 371732
Doncaster A District Sinclair User Group
meets at Gracehoime Social Club
Doncaster each Wednesday at 7pm
Contact Tony Cooper on 0302 853124
Folkestone ZX Spectrum User Group for
under 16s Contact 0 J Parish.
Brookhouse. Etchmghill, Folkestone. Kent
Glasgow. ZX80 81 User Group Ian Watt
10 Greenwood Road Clarkston. Glasgow.
041-638 1241

Gloucester Sinclair Spectrum user group
Contact B Ledbury. 8 Lmnet Close.
Gloucester Tel 0452-23186
Liverpool. ZX Computer Club Meets each
Wednesday at 7pm in the Youth Activities
Centre Contact Keith Archer on 051 -236
6109

London. National ZX User Club Tim
Harmed Interface 44-48 Earls Court.
London W8

London. Sinclair User Group Meets at
Polytechnic ot North London. Room 2-5
Tower Block Monday 6 30pm Irving
Brand. Polytechnic ol North London
Holloway Road. London
Harlow ITEC Spectrum User Group
Contact K Sutton on Harlow 442034
London. Aquarius Users Group Contact L
Leboft. Aquarius User Group. 4th Floor
Hyde House. The Hyde. London NW9
Manchester Sinclair Users Dub Meets at
Longsignt Library, 519 Stockport Road.
Longsight. Manchester, every Wednesday
at 7 30pm Call 061 -225 6997 or 061 -445
6316

Nottingham ZX Spectrum Club 0 Beattie
53 Kingsley Descent Sawtey. Long Eaton
Nottingham NG1030A Enclose SAE
please

Nottingham Sinclair User Group meets
third Monday ol each month Contact
Graham Bastord on Nottingham 654522
Scunthorpe Grange Farm ZX Computer
Club. Scunthorpe. Sooth Humberside
Meets first and third Tuesday ol month
Contact Sheila & Fred Wilkinson. 0724
842970

Staffordshire ZX80 National Software
Association 1 5 Woodlands Road .
Womboume. Staffordshire WV5 OJZ
Sudbury. Comard Sinclair User Group
meets bi-weekly on Wednesdays Contact
Neil MacOonaM 15 Potkiln Road. Gt
Comard Sudbury Suffolk
Suffolk ZX Amateur Radio User Group
Paul Newsman. 3 Red House Lane.

Letston. Suffolk SAE essential No
telephone inquiries

Surrey Guildford ZX80 81 Users Group
Meets Fridays A Bond 54 Farnham Road.
Guildford Surrey GU2 5PE 0483 62035
Suney. ZX80 81 User Club Oavid Btgden
PO Box 159. Kmgston-upon-Thames
Surrey KT25UQ

West Sussex. Hassocks ZX Micro User
Dub Paul King. 25 Fir Tree Way
Hassocks West Sussex
Sinclair IQLUG Independent OL User
Group Contact Brian Pam in Milton Keynes
on 0908 564271

Sirius

Sirius User Group. Ray 0 Arcy. Smus User
Club. The Microsystems Centre. Enterprise
House. 7-71 Gordon Street. Luton. 0582
412215

68XX

68 User Group. Meets every fourth
Tuesday throughout the year Contact 41
Pebworth Road. Harrow. Middlesex

6809 User Group

6809 User Group. Contact Mr Gibbons. 9
St Thomas Hill. Launceston. Cornwall

Software

London. Software Group Meets at
Polytechnic ol North London. Room 2-3
Tower block Thursday. 6pm Mike Duck at
Polytechnic of North London, Holloway.
London N7

Oitord Program of the Month Dub Mr
Durrani. 55 St Thomas Street. Oxford 0X1
1JG 0855 250333

Sorcerer

Liverpool European Sorcerer Club

Monthly meetings Colin Marie. 32
Watchyard Avenue. Formby. near Liverpool
L373JU 07048 72137
Surrey Exidy Sorcerer User Group Andy
Marshall 44 Arthurs Bridge Road . Wokmg
Surrey GU214NT

Spreadsheet

International Electronic Spreadsheet
Users Group UK Alpha House 7th Floor.
Rowtandsway Manchester M22 5RG

Tandy

Tandy Model 100 NEC PC-8201 User
Group SAE to Remsott. 18 George Street.
Brighton tel 0273602354

Tangerine

Avon. Tangenne Users Group Bob Green.

1 Marlborough Drive Worte Avon 0934
21315

Bristol Tangerine Homebrew A Coales. 35
Mogg Street. St Werburghs. Bristol BS2
9U6

Texas Instruments

Brighton Contact Owe & Audrey Scally. 40
Barrhill. Patcham. Brighton Sussex
Ireland. Proposed new dub Contact Mrs
Ann Flynn. 53 Georgian Close. North Road.
Drogheda. Co Louth, Eire
Leeds. TI99 4A User Group Meets at 30
Gipton Wood Road Leeds 8 Mondays
7pm I Yoidden 0532 401408
Manchester. Tl User Group T Gnmshaw
21 AHingham Street. Longsight

Manchester. T 19900 User Group Chris
Cadogan Department ot Computer
Soence. University ot Manchester Ml 3
9PL

Maidenhead — UK Taxas Instrument*

User Group Contact Katie Lomax. PO Box
190 Maidenhead. Berks Tel 0628 71696
Nationwide Tl Users Group. Contact TI99
4A Exchange. Independent Tl Users. 40
Barrhill. Patcham Brighton BN1 8UF

Triton

Triton User Group. Nigel Stride Transam
Ltd. 12 Chapel Street. London NWi
01-402 8137

TRS-80

Birmingham National TRS-80 User Group
Meets at Adam & Eve Pub 1st Floor
Bradford Street. Birmingham on last Friday
of month Michael Gibbons. 1 New Street
Castle Bromwich. Birmingham B38 9AP
021-747 2260

Chelmsford TRS-80 User Group Michael
Dean. 22 Roughtons Gaileywood
Chelmsford. Essex

Durham. North East TRS-80 User Group
Meets at Information Technology Centre.
Gateshead on the third Wednesday ot
month. 7pm J Ounn. 8 Enrich Terrace.

North Gateshead. County Durham
Edinburgh. Scottish TRS-80 and Genie
User Group Meets at Mansion House
Hotel M.tton Road second Thursdays ot
month Dick Mackie. 72 Mommgside
Drive. Edinburgh EH9 10X. 031-447 6651
Herts. Contact Reg Smith 24 Sempiii
Road. Hemel Hempstead Herts. 0442
60085

Hull 6 District TRS-80 Beeb Users Group
Meets second Tuesday of month and
Thursday 16 days later at Psychology Dpt.
Hull Unrversity Contact J Lawrence 2a
Hall Road. Hull HU68SA
Isle of Wight TRS-80 User Club Meets at
London Hotel. Ryde on last Friday ot
month 7 30pm Sean Coulson. 0903
614589

Kent. TRS-80 User Group Alan Retd. 22
Woodeys Road. Ramham Kent. 0634
367012

Greater Manchester Northwest TRS-80
User Group Meets at Barton Aero Dub.
Barton Aerodrome, irtam. near Manchester
on last Wednesday of month . 8pm Melvin
Franklin. 40 Cowlees Westhoughton
Bolton. Lancs

Lancs. TRS-80 Colour Computer Group
Subs £3 Contact Ian Wild , 53 Oarnton
Road. Ashton-U-Lyne Lancs 0L6 6RL
Liverpool. Merseyside TRS -80 Video
Genie User Group Meets second Thursday
of month 7 15pm Peter Toothill. 101
Swanside Road. Liverpool L14 7NL 051-
220 9733

London. SW. TRS-80 User Group Ron
Eventt on 01-394 2123
Merseyside TRS-80 User Group N
Rushton. 123 Roughwood Drive.
Northwood. Kirby Merseyside
Milton Keynes. National TRS-80 and Genie
User Group Brian Pain. 24 Oxford Street.
Stony Stratford. Milton Keynes
Nottingham TRS-80 Genie Users Group
Meets at Wittord Moderns Rugby Dub
House on first and third Wednesday every
month at 7 30pm Contact Geoffrey Hi liter
5a Gregory Street. Lenton. Nottingham
NG7 2LR. Nottingham 783938
Nottingham Last Midlands TRS-80 User
Group Mike Costello 15Langbank
Avenue Rise Park Nottingham NG558U.
0602 751753

London. TRS-80 Geme Group Meets at
Central Common Room, The Residency.
Northwick Park Hospital on hrst Sunday ol
month Or Nick Robinson. Central Room.
The Residency. Northwich Park Hosprtai
Northants TRS-80 User Group Meets at
Welwyn Park Community Centre on
alternate Thursdays at 7pm Neil Griffiths.
0858 65718

Colour Genie

International Colour Genie Users Group
Write with SAE to The Secretary. NCGUG
46 Highbury Avenue. Butwell Nottingham
0602 278791

National Colour Gonio User Group Marc
Leduc, 46 Highbury Avenue
Nottinghamshire NG6 90B

UCSD

Hants. UCSD System Users Sooety John
Ash. Dicoll Oata Systems Ltd. Bond Dose.
Kmgsland Estate. Basingstoke Hants RG2
OOB

Oxford UCSD Pascal UK Users Group
Malcolm Harper. Oxford University
Computing Laboratory Programming
Research Group. 45 Banbury Road. Oxford
0X2 6PE

Unix

Unix User Group UK can be contacted at
Langley House. Langley Mill. Notts

6502

Bedfordshire 6502 User Group Walter
Wadenbom, 21 Argyll Avenue. Luton.
Bedfordshire LU3 1EG. 0582 26927
Hants. 6502 User Group (Southern
Region) Steve Cole. 70 Sydney Road.
Gosport . Hants

84

K2

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PCN FEBRUARY 25 I9H4

83

CLUBNET

◄ 82

Oric in business

Five month old Oric Owners Users Group
(International ) Limited's current project is
to p romote the Oric .1 machine for the
small business.

'The domestic environment is over-
catered foi, both hardware and software
wise . and we want to make people aware of
the Oric's potential in a working environ-
ment’ said organiser Bob Green.

The group also aims to produce hard-
ware add-ons for the Oric and Atmos at
favourable prices to members, as well as

software and hardware packages for the
Oric. which will continue to be the
mainstay for some time to come.

The group has recently moved to bigger
premises — it was formerly based in Mr
Green's home which proved rather
cramped, due to 8.000 enquiries which he
received in the first month of the group's
existence.

Members meet up at computer shows
around the country to swap ideas and
information and though no precise mem-

bership figures are available. Mr Green is
kept very busy.

Members are notified of future meetings
by post and the £ lOannual membership fee
covers monthly copies of the magazine
‘Oric Computing’.

Wendie Pearson

N mm Oric Owners Users Group
(International) Limited Venue By arrangement
Met ting s ( »n random basis — advised bv post
Centact Bob Green, 0934 516681

USER GROUPS

Bristol Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories Club
Contact Neil Walker S3 WoKridge Ride
Alveston. Bristol 0454 414262
Bristol Micro Computer Club Meets at the
Pavilion Southend Road. Filton Bristol

a other Tuesday Darrvl Collins. 60
e Rd. Filton. Bnstol BS12 7NA. 0272
782962.

Brietoi Formal 40 80 Disc Club tor BBC
disk users Contact Peter Hughes. Format
40 80 Disc Club co The Lending Library
Five Marshal Street Bnstol BSl 4AA
Muiti -U vm Chib Valerie Boyde-Shaw
Nailsea 851337

Worto Computer Club Meets at
Woodsprmgs Inn Functions Rooms on
alternate Mondays at 7-10 30pm H
Bennett. 0934 514902 or F Feeney 0934
833122

BEDFORDSHIRE

Bedford Amateur Computer Qub Meets at
Star Rowing Club Bedford on the first and
third Tuesday of month 8pm Rowan Bird
74 High Street Great Barford MK44 3LB
0234 870763

ChUtorn Computer Oub Meets at Five
Bells. Eaton Bray. Near Ounstabfe.

Leighton Buzzard on second and fourth

Monday of each month Contact Steve

Betts. 42 Wallace Road. Eaton Bray 0U6

2DF 0525 220922

Luton Codec* Computer Club John

Rodger 0582 3411

Luteo Computer Club J P Fletcher 1

Trowbridoe Gardens, Luton, LU27JY.

0582 450687
BERKSHIRE

Breckjwd Computer Club meets second
and fourth Thursday of each month at
Easthampstead Community Centre. 7pm
Contact Paul Titsley. 31 Pembroke
Hanworth. Bracknell Berkshire
Easthampstead Computer Dub Meets at
Easthampstead Park School Bracknell, on
the first Wednesdav in month at 8pm Bnan

Poulton. 0344 84423
Crown Wood Computer Club Meets at
Crown Wood Community Centre
Bracknell each Thursday at 8pm Ray
Ayrton 0344 59264

Meets at Free Church Hall. L
Marston Green Birmingham on first and
third Thursdr — | — “■ “ ' *“ —

Contact Les I

Wotveihampton 725340
Primrose MH Cawtre Micro Qub Meets
Wednesday at 7 1 5pm at the Primrose HHi
Centre, Shannon Road. Kings Norton
Birmingham Contact Keith Belfieid Tel:
021-459 8995
4GHAM

ly Computer Club Meets at
Quarrendon Youth Qub every Friday at
7 30pm and at Mandsviiie County
Secondary School the first Thursday of
each month at 7pm Ken Knight. 22 Mount
Street. Aviesbury 0296 5181
Ctoitorn V c f ocom puter Club Meets at the
Garden Centre. School Lane Chalfont St
Giles on the first Wednesday of each
month Mrs W Tibbrtts. Eltwood Deanway
Chalfont St Giles 024 07 4906
her Computer Club P A Seal 1 Ormonde
Flats Church Road Iver Heath. 0753
652792
NsrCorn

room Iver Village F

fourth Thursday every month at 7 30 John
Hugh. 141 Leas Drive. Iver SL09RP

t» Microcomputer Club, meets on

the third Wednesday of month Derek
Tn ^ 3 S urgeons Avenue Waterbeach

Peterborough Personal Computer Club
meets at Crostidd Electronics Social Club
fortnightly on Mondays Andrew Pike. 0733
44342 after 5pm

Altrincham fortnightly Martin Hicklmg 39
Barnngton Road. Altrincham WA14 1H2.
061 941 4547

Brown Computer Club Meets at St
Werburgh Community Centre on alternate
Wednesdays at 7 to 10pm Mr R Simpson
4 The Coots Stockwood
Chester Computer Club Contact W CoKms
37 Garden Lane Chester Cheshire
Crwwe Computer Users Club meets at
Buffaloes Qub. Earl Street. Crewe, on the
third Thursday of each month at 8pm
Bram Knight. 0270 623375
Holmes Chapel Micro Club meets at Leisure
Centre. Holmes Chapel at 7 30 to 9 30pm
on the first and third Tuesday of month
Margaret Baker 1 Helton Close Crewe
047734238

Kinder Peek Computer Club meets at Bew
Mills School every Monday John Eary
New Mills 43870

KettterhwW Vational Computer Buyer s
Club Send SAE to Barry Edwards Laneside
House Paddock Lane. Kettleshuime. nr
Stockport. Cheshire
New MM* & District PCC meets at New
Mills School fortnightly on Fridays at 7 to
9 30pm Mr G M Flanagan. 1 1 Sundown
Close. New Mills. Stockport SK12 30H
0663 44051

I Computer Qub meets

Wamngron WA6 7PU 0728

31519

Norttiweet Computer Club, weekly
meetings Tom Wyatt 29 Summer Lane
Hatton Puncom Cheshire WA7 SPG
Runcorn 77545

» Computer Club meets at

every month at 7 30pm Simon Sadler
W.nstord 53339

Stockport Software Exchange Club Send
SAE to P Bedford 53 Cavendish Road
Hazel Grove. Stockport. Cheshire

CLEVELAND

Ctcvotowd M cro Club meets on the second
and third Tuesday of each month under
1 8s on second of month . over 21 s on third

Tuesday of month J Telford. 13 Weston
Crescent. Norton

Stocfctow Amateur Computer Club meets at
YMCA. Stockton each alternate week at
7-9pm Peter Cheshire 60 Croft Road.
Eaglesclrtfe Stockton-on-Tees TS1600Y

CORNWALL

Corntth Radio Amateur Club — Computing
Section Bob Reason, 24 Mitchell Road,
Camborne

Cornwall Atm PAICC meets at the
Penzance Micro Centre every Friday S
Zenith Hayle 754845
St Amtofi t 1 outer Club and Computer
Town meets at ECIP Labs, Penpewan Road,
fortmghtty on Mondays at 7 30pm NG
Day. 2 Ciiendale Close. St Austell
CUMBRIA

AmMorito Computer Club Contact Jeremy
Westerman 8 Mill Top Road Ambleside
Cumbria Tel Ambleside 2452

DERBYSHIRE

Cbesteriteld Micro Club Meets each Friday
at 7pm John Charter 37555 or Alan Crofts
30262

Derby Micro Society meets at Littleover
Church Hall. Sheperd Street, first and third
Thursday of each month at 7pm Frank
Taylor 0332 559334
G loiiop Computer Club John Dearn 2
Spinney Close. Glossop
DEVON

Umtn H rt pkne Club for desperate
adventurers Contact C P Wong. 20
Stangray Avenue, Plymouth Devon
Bririum Computer Club meets each
Wednesday night at 7 30pm at the Golden
Uon. New Road. Bnxham Devon
Computers Again si the Bowk. Contact Paul
Couchman. 29 Clifton Place. North Hill.
Plymouth. Devon

tutor A District Computer Qub meets at
Exeter School Magdalene Road, Exeter, on
the second and lourtn Tuesday every
month T G Holden 14 Greenville Avenue.
Teignmouth T014 9NT
Exeter A District Amateur Computer Qub
meets second Tuesday every month Doug

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

wmmm—m ■

CLUBNET

■■■■■■■■■

Bates. Fortescue Moose. Stoke Cannon.
Exeter Specialist meetings on third and
fourth Tuesday

Ofcehampton omp ..ter Club Contact
Chern Graebe. Ofcehampton 3523. or
Okehampton Communrty College
Okehampton 3800 Meets 7pm each
Monday donna term time
Sooth Morton l omputer Out) Meets at
Sooth Molton Tool Mire. Dootson House.
Cooks Cross Industnal Estate South
Molton, North Devon each Thursday at
7pm Contact Nick Hews on 07695 3446
Torhey Users Computer Club meets at
Devon Computers, 39 Totnes Road
Paignton on Mondays fortnightly
DORSET

Bournemouth Area Computer Club meets at
Kmson Communrty Centre on the third
Wednesday every month Peter Hibbs. 54
Runnymede Avenue. Bournemouth. BH1 1
9SE 0202 576547

TOPIC meets at Canteen English Truck
Centre on the second and fourth
Wednesday every month at 7pm David
Washford 1 Alexander Road.

Bournemouth. BM6 5JA

Purtoch Computer CM, contact 3 1 North

Street. Wareham. Dorset BH20 1AD

meetings LI
Darlington 0

ESSO

Eppteg Computer Club meets Tuesdays at

7 30pm at Centrepomt, Eppmg Call G

ReesonEppmg 75055

Contes Computer Club 30 Webber House.

North Street. Barking

Great Dunmow puter Club Contact T

Coombs. 4 Oakroyal House, Oakroyal

Avenue. Great Ounmow. Essex CM6 1HQ

Brentwood Amateur Microcomputer Club

meets once a month A R Holland. 0277

221620

SeringfMd Computer Club meets on the
first Friday of every month Stephen

island Essex SS8 81

Cote hotter Microprocessor Group meets at
University of Essex on the second and
fourth Wednesday of every month at
7 30pm Information Centre. University of
Essex, near Colchester
Cok h«star Computer Society Meets at
Severails Hospital Social Chib. Colchester
Contact A Potten MFoxmead Rrvenhall.
Witham. Essex CM8 3HD Wrtham 516335
Computer Club meets on first
"each month Contact Ray

Q Floyd, c/o

Physics Department. Stanway School.

Stanway Colchester

Modem SO Computer Link Club, meets

Wednesday evenings Contact t Ferrant. 55

South Street Barmmg. Kent. 0622 27885

Naihoe Multi-User Club Contact Valene

BoydeShaw .0272851337

Romford C ub a new club MrDNorden.

1 38c Church Road Romford
Rotmdocre Micro Computer Users Club
Meets at the Roundacre Youth House
Lamdon Link. Basildon every Wednesday at
7 30pm Contact Mrs L Oaden Basildon
285119

South toot Uwi Computer Society meets
at Hockey Club at Roots Hall, near
Southend Football Stadium on Wednesday
“ ’ '''im Robin Kmghf —
ig Road. Little W
0702 218456

Amateur Electronics Club MrJ

Margetts. 3 Brshopstone Close. Golden
Valley Cheltenham

Chottauham Amateur Computer Club meets
on the third Tuesday of each month at
7 30pm M>ke Pullm 0242 2561 7
QCHQ.0WAdam 16 Court Road
Prestbury. Cheltenham
CtMltMlMm Amateur Computer Club meets
at Prestbury Scout Headquarters, on the
third Tuesday ot every month at 7 30pm M
Hughes. 36 (overviews Way. Cheltenham

rt at 7pm Brian Cox Fareham

Computer Club Alan Smith, to Francis
Close. Lee-on the- Solent Gosport Hants
P0138HB 0705 550907
Portsmouth Co operator* Computer Oub
-contact A May on 0705 820339
RAF Odihmi Computer Club Contact to
Officer i c. Royaf Air Force. Odiham. Nr
Basingstoke. Hants
SeuthaMptn Amateur Computer Club
meets at Crestwood Centre Shakespeare
Road. Boyatt Wood. Eastleigh. Hants on
the second Wednesday ot every month at
7 30pm Paul Blitz Chandlers Ford 69050
HEREFORD

id Amateur Computer Club

Warwick Walk BobWestock,

0432 269700

HERTS

OmoKmi Computer Club Meets on
second Wednesday of each month at the
New Village Hall Committee Room
Eisenham Bishop's Stortford R Franklin
0279815068

Sjwhrtdpvworth Computer Club meets at
Sawbndgeworth Parish Hall. 7pm. Fridays
M Marwood. 38 Sayesbury Road
Sawbndgeworth. Herts. CM21 0E6

_ m Microcomputer Club Meets
7 30pm alternate Fridays at Old Star Inn.

Grimsby Computer Club meets at Grimsby

j Computer Club Meets on the
first Friday of every month at Bury House.
Gosport community Centre. Bury Road.

Sooety meets at Community Centre
Lmdun Street Scunthorpe, every Tuesday
at 7 30pm G Hmch. 21 OM Crosby,
Scunthorpe. South Humberside DN158PU

KENT

Canterbury ACC proposed new club
Contact L Fisher, 21 Manwood Avenue. St
Stephens Canterbury, CT2 7 AH
Grarexwte computer Club Meets at School
Room Extra Tuition Centre. 39 The Terrace.
Gravesend Contact c o The Extra Tuition
Centre .0474 50677
Madway Amateur Computer & Robotics
Organisation Meets at 7 30pm on first
Tuesday and third Wednesday of every
month Annual subs C5 Contact Paul
Cameron. Unit 3 Waiderslade Centre.
Waidersiade Road. Chatham Kent. 0634-
63036

North Kant Amateur Computer Club meets
at Lecture Theatre. Charles Darwin School.
Jail Lane Bigom Hill on the first Thursday
of every month at 7 30pm lain House. 28
Canadian Avenue Catford SE63AS 01-
690 5441

Orptecteu Computer Club meets at The
Large Hall. Christ Church Chatertiouse
Road, Orpington, every Friday at 8pm-
10 30pm Mr R Pyatt 23 Arundel Drive
Chpinjjton Kent BR6 9JF Orpington

Natwoal Personal Computer User
Association Enc Kee ey 11 Sp ratling
Street. Manston Ramsgate. Kent
Smrtooabs School Computer Club G
Sommerhoff. Technical Centre. Sevenoaks
School Sevenoaks. Kent 0732 456340
Tonbridge A Tunbridg* Write ACC Ray
Szatkowski. 1 Cromer Street. Tonbridge
0732 355960
LANCASHIRE

BUchbure Micro Computer Club Roger
Longworth. 12 Sharp Close. Accrington
Boltan Computer Club meets at Bolton
Institute of Higher Education Deane Road.
Bolton, on Thursdays Bill or Suz> Hatton
0204 792803

Bureky puter Club Meets at Burnley
Technical College on Tuesdays. 7 30
ilpm Contact Cine Tallon. 27 Basnett
Street. Burnley, Lancs
Chortey Computer Ctub meets at Townley
Arms. Chortey, every other Tuesday at
8pm Tony Higson. 23 Brock Road.

Chortey Lancs Chortey 68429
Ribbfc Vritay Computer Club meets at Staff
Canteen. Pendie Carpets Ltd. West
Bradford on the second and fourth
Monday of month at 7-9pm Contact Ian
Thomton-Bryar 25 Southfield Drive. West
Bradford. Clitheroe. BB7 4TU
Lancaster A Mo r s t ambs Computer Club
Sarah Blackler 0524 33553
Lancaster Computer Club meets each
Tuesday at 6 30pm Contact Brian Sheldon
on 0624 1 '

■ Computer Club meets at

Turf Lane Centre. Turf Lane. Chadderton.
on Thursdays at 7-9 30pm David Sholes.
18 Beech Avenue. Oldham. Lancs

LEICESTERSHIRE

East Lanka Computer Club Andrew Jones.
59 Bateman Road. East Leake.
Loughborough. LE12 6NN
Nawkar Stedntey Computer Club Contact R
Wrathall 6 Naseby Dm*. Loughborough
LE110WU

Library . Robert Street NW1 . on the third
Tuesday of month at 7 30pm Jim
Anderson. 41 Pebworth Road. Harrow

North London Computer Club meets at the
Polytechnic of North London Holloway. N7
8DB. on Monday. Tuesday Wednesday
and Thursday during term time and one
evening a week dunna holidays Robin
Bradbeer 01-607 2789
Paddington Computer Club meets at
Paddington College 25 Paddington Green.
W21NB Peter H<V 01-723 5762
Port Office HQ Microcomputer Club meets
at room B145 River Ptate House 12-13
South Place, off Moorgate. on the second
Thursday of month Vernon Quamtance
British Telecom Enterprises. Cheapside
House. 138 Cheapside EC2U6JH 01-726
4716

Quoout Crescent Computer Dub Meets at
Queens Crescent Library. 165 Queens
Crescent London NWS, 01-485 4551
r Club meets once -
1.12 Calderon Road.

London Ell

South East L

contact Mark Benson on 01-8
313

i Microcomputer Club meets at

B106 Southpate Teen lortroghtty on
tat 7 jOpm Kevin Pretonus

Wednesdays.
01-882 2282

-ancaster Computer Cl
Tuesday at 6 30pm Co
>n 0524 423134

See Prestei page 25820645
•*•«< l o*iaoo Personal Comp '- ~ -
meets at Back room. Fox 6 G
Hanger Lane. Alpi
of month at 7 45p
01-9978986
MANCHESTER

Manchester Computer Oub meets at the
Department of Computer Science.
Manchester University. Oxford Road, on
the first and third Thursday of month at
7 30pm David Wade 061-941 2486
Small ButintM Computer Users Club
Proposed new club to meet the last
ofmontt ~

tr5pm

m4 Microcomputer CU
Contact lan White 16

Microcomputer Group meets at

Merchant Taylor's School. Crosby, on
second Thursday month Mr F Shaw. 14
Albany Avenue, tedeston Park. Prescot
051-426 5536

i Computer Club meets at The

Cardinal's Hat. 238 High Street. Lincoln
(entrance on Grantham Street) on first and
third Wednesday of each month, except

Ji Computer Oub meets at County

note! every other Monday. 7 30-9 30pm
Reg Potter. 118 Beresford Avenue.
Skegness 0754 3594

LONDON

Allocution of Com outer Clubs. Contact
Rupert Steeie ’ 7 Lawrie Park Crescent
London SE26. 01 -778 6824 National Club
Crerdou Microcomputer Club Meets at
Croydon Central Reference Library Contact
Vernon Gifford. 01-653 3207
Lest London Amateur Computer Club
meets at Harrow Green Librarv Catfuii
Road. Ell. on the seconder
Tuesda
onOK

Forum-80 Loudon. Leon Jay 01-286 6207
Forum-80 Wemktey. Vidor Saleh. 01 -902
2546

Tba Foundation, c o Princes Street.
Tottenham London N1 7 Postal club for
science fiction fantasy software Contact
David Hodson. 01-8084053
Harrow Computer Group meets at Harrow
College ol Higher Education. Room W24.
North wick Park, on alternate Wednesday at
7pm Bazyle Butcher 01-950 7068
imperial Codoco Micro Club meets at room
401 m the Royal School ot Mines on
Wednesdays at 2pm Jan- Simon Pend ry
Micro Club, c o Imperial College Union
Office. Pnnce Consort Road. London SW7
288

London Schnrt Computer Club Burlington
Danes School. Dane Building. DuCane
Road. Hammersmith

Metropolitan Prttoo Amateur Computing
Oub meets on the first Thursday of month
af 7pm S Farley. 01-725 2428

Ian Bnstone. 28 Weld Road. Southport.
Merseyside PR820L 0704 64524
Wkrrt Microcomputer Users Group meets
at Birkenhead Technical College every
Monday J Phillips. 14 Helton Close.
Birkenhead Merseyside L43 9HP
Wurel Computer Club Contact Gary
Metcalfe. 24 Martston Avenue. Irby
Merseyside

r Computer Club Meets on the

first and third Monday of every month at
Brigadier Youth Centre. Brigadier Htfl,
Enfield at 7 30 pm Contact Steve Ward. 28
Brodie Road Enfield. Middx EN2 OEU.
01-363 3786

Micremoddter User Association Meets
three times a year Contact Phillip
Matthews Pfrthp Moms House. 21 High
Street Feftham TW13 4 AD. 01-751 6388
Sunbury Computer Club meets at St
Benedicts Hall Nap* Road Ashtord. on
the last Tuesday of month at 8pm Simon
Taylor, 8 Priory Close, Sunbury-on-
Thames, Middlesex Simon Clark. 83
Watlma Street. Towcester, Northants
VW12 7AG

Middkui Micro Oub Contact Pete
Kavner . 17 Manor Vale. Brentford
Middlesex

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Corby Universal Micro Club Meets at
Lodge Park Sports Centre fortnightly on
alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays
Contact Peter Wilson, 26 North Cape Walk.
Corby, tel Great Oakley 742622
Krtteriu* M r’oeomputer Club Meets
every Wednesday at 7pm Details trom
Stephen Bickie on 0536 514381
South Northants microcomputer dub
Contact Sunond Clark m Towcester on
0327 52191
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
AakfloM Computer Club meets at Carsic
Junior School. St Mary s Road. Sutton m
Ashlieid on the first and third Thursday
month Derick Dames, co Cuttings
Avenue. Sutton in Ashfieid. Notts
Eastwood Teww Micro Computer Club
meets at Devonshire Drive Junior School
Wednesday at 5 45pm Ted Ryan, 15
Queens Square. Eastwood. Nottingham
NQ16 38J

Nottingham Microcomputer Club meets at
Congregational Federation Centre Castle
Gate Centre. Nottingham, second Monday
ot each month at 7 30pm Mr E Harvey. 68
Rosele»gh Avenue Nottingham NG3 6FH
Nottingham 608491

Rrtford Computer Club meets th-weekly at
the Ivy Leaf Oub. Retford, at 7 30pm
Contact John Lanntgan on Retford 700134
“ ‘ p Computer Group Mr Andrews

Anrtte Computer User Group JanReizl.
128 Templemere. Sprowton Road.
Norwich 0603-29652

Andrew thorn. 1

Thetford Norfolk Meets each Saturday.
5pm at this address

Dereham 6 District Computer Club Meets
at Middle School. Westfield Road.
Toftwood. East Dereham on every second
Wednesday at 7 30pm Contact Mrs Fran
Cook. Dereham 67732

« Computer User's Group meets
ty Centre. Teh
Hi|zi. 88StBf

w _. _ . _ JsLane. Gorteston. Great

Yarmouth on Fridays at 6 30pm Tel:
0493-6000003

Yarmouth Computer Club meets each
Fnday at 7pm Contact the dub at Unit 26.
Longs Estate. Engiands Lane. Gorleston
Great Yarmouth. Norfolk. 0983 662871
NORTHERN IRELAND
Botfast Computer Club meets 7pm on first
Monday of eacn month at Ashby Institute.
Stranmiliis Road. Belfast 9 Contact Patnck
Roddie on Hofywood 3212

86

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1W4

85

CLUBNET

◄ 85

Microcomputer Club meets oo

ContactE Dock on 02

Centre Yeovil College Yeovil Somers
Tauntoa Computer Club, meets 6pm or
Tuesdays dunng term time at Somerset

' *n Mir" gy Contact

e. Back Lane.

Westbury-sub-Mendip Weils. Somerset
Yeovtl Computer Ctub 0 G Carnngton. 2
Romsey Road. Yeovil. BA21 SXN
STAFFORDSHIRE

Abater Computer Club, meets at Alsager
Comprehensive School. Stoke-on-Trent.
Staffs, lortmghtfy on Tuesday Rex
Chartesworth 09363 77270
North Staff* Amateur Computer Club meets

Steele. St John's College Oxford 0?i 3JP
M Ur wvic meets at Clarendon Lab Parks
Road. Oxford, every week during term
Rupert Steele. St John s College. Oxford
0X1 3JP

Oxford Personal Computer Ciut> Len
Phelps Southport Cottage. Sutton
Courtenay. Nr Abingdon. Oxon 0X14 4AU
MA nw) Computing Club meets at Swan
Hotel East llsley on the second Tueday

month Mike M» —

Street. Biubury
SCOTLAND
MM*toa Computer Club. Renfrewshire
meets th-weekly Contact Alasdair Law on
Bishopton 863137

bmtfeo — Kmgsway Amateur Computer
Club Meets in rooms C11 & C12.
Kmgsway Technical College. Old Giarms
Road Dundee on Thursdays at 6 30pm
Contact J Cook at the college on 0362
819021 orC Macieod. 101 Pedd.e Sreet,
Dundee

Edinburgh Home Computing Club meets at
Crosswinds Community Centre. ToHcross.
Edinburgh, on the 2nd. 3rd and 4th
Thursday ol month from 7- 10pm I
Robertson 031 441 2361

burgh EH17 7JR

j» Computer Club meets each Saturday

at 7 30pm at Cairns Church Hall, Lanark
Scotland Contact N Kirkpatrick. 3
Wellington Terrace. Lanark Strathclyde.
Scotland

CMrtrai Scotland Computer Club meets at
Falkirk College of Technology.
Grangemouth Road Falkirk, on the first
and third Thursday ot month James Lyon ,
78 Siamannan Road. Falkirk FK1 5NF
F*e Computer Users Dub meets
fortnightly Murray Simpson 31 Tom
Steward Lane. St Andrews. Fife. KYI 6
8YB

Grampian Amateur Computer Society
meets at 35 Thistle Lane. Aberdeen, on the
second and fourth Monday every month at
7 30pm Alan Morrison 21 Beech Road
Westhill, Skene. Aberdeenshire A83 6WR
Itofimay Computer Dub meets weekly S
Stubbs 15 The Glebe. Kemnay. Inverurie.
Aberdeenshire

mem Personal Computing Club meets'
every second Tuesday at 7 30pm Gyl
Mackeruie, 38 Ardconnei Street. Inverness
IV2 3EX. 0463 220922
P*fth A 0« strict Amateur Computer Society
meets at Riverside Lounge. Bridgend
Perth, on the third Tuesday of month at
7 30pm Alastair McPherson. 154 Oakbank
Road. Perth PH1 1 HA
Sky* and Lochabh Computing Society
Contact C Manveii Tigh na Pairc, 25 Lower
Breakish, Isle of Skye IV42 8QA 04712
317

, Je Computer Club meets at
Wolfson Centre, 106 Rottenrow Glasgow
on the third Wednesday ol month B Duffy
24 Lomand Drive. Condorrat. Cumbernauld
G4 8NW

on the third Wednesday ot each month J
Roll, 16 Hill Street. Hednestord
Staffordshire WS1 2 5DS
ICL Birmingham Branch Micro Club C O
WBA Ecclestone 26 Browns Lane.
Tamworth, Staffs

Tama Computer Dub Contact A Beckett
57 Adonis Dose Tamworth Staffs
Meetings bi-weekly. Friday. 7pm

SUFFOLK

HaverNM Microcomputer Dub meets at St
Marys Church Hail Camps Road.

Haverhill, on the second, third and fourth
Wednesday ol month at 7 30 to 10pm
Andrew Holliman. 5 Trinity Close
Balsham CB1 60W 022 629 583
Newmarket Home Computer Group Meets
at Anchor House. Moat Lane Towcester. at
7 30pm Contact Simon Clark 83 Watlmg
Street, Towcester Northerns NN12 7 AG.
0327 52191

Suffolk r.' computer Club meets

rS Pratt co Micro

k Street. Ipswich

SURREY

Ashtaad Computer Club meets on the last
Thursday of month Contact P Palmer. 8
CorfeDose Ashtead
Ml'

Onto

Surrey KT1 7 4AF
Thame* Valley Amateur Computer Dub
meets at Griffon. Caversham on the first
Tuesday ol month Brian Quarm. 25
Roundway, Camberley. GU15 1NR.
Camberley 22186

EwaN Micro Dub. Dave Oe Suva. 316
Kingston Road. Ewell KT190SU
Famha* Computer Club meets at
Famham 6th Form College. Morley Road.
Famham. on the second Wednesday ol

Paddock Room

Burpham Guildford the first Thursday ol

month ChnsKamey 0483 68121

ITN Computer C ub meets on Fridays A

Bond. 54 Farnham Road. Guikllord. Surrey

GU2 5PE 048562035

CB8S London meets on Sundays 4- 10pm

P Goldman POBox 100a. Surbiton. KT5

Gnnstead. RH193X0

Room R06. F

Crawley on the first and third Monday ol
month J Clarke 31 Hyde Heath Court.
Pound H«. Crawley 0293-884207
Worthing A District Microcomputer Dub
meets at Rose Wiimot Youth Centre
Littlehampton Road Worthing, on alternate
Sundays 11 am- 1pm B Thomas. 11
Gannon Road Worthing W Sussex. BN11
2DT .0903 36785
TYNE A WEAR

Newcastle upon Tyne Personal Computer
Society meets at Room 0103 Newcastle
Polytechnic on the first Tuesday of every
month Pete Scargili 21 Percy Park
Tynemouth. 0632 573905

WALES

every Thursday at
es. 77 Miiibank

8HY

Richmond Computer Dub meets at
Richmond Community Centre. Sheen
Road, on the second Monday of month at
8pm Bob Forster. 18a The Barons St
Margarets Twickenham Middlesex 01-
892 1873

m A District Microcomputer Dub
meets at Docesan Education Centre. Lower
GakJetord. Ludlow, on the second Monday
of month at 7 30pm
Sk rsw sh my Micro Club meets at
Shrewsbury Shirehali once a month MrV
Ives, 6 Bramley Close. Severn Meadows.
Shrewsbury SY1 2TP
Telford Computer Club meets at Telford
ITEC on Monday 6-9pm John Murphy 10
Bnchmore. Brookside Telford TF3 1TF
0952 595959

Central Library St Nicholas Way Surrey
on the first Friday ol month and third
Tuesday ol month at 8 30pm Dave Wilkins
01-642 3102

Association of London Computer Clubs.

Len Stuart 89 Mayfair Avenue. Worcester
Park. KT4 7SJ

SUSSEX

Anm Microcomputer Dub meets at Wick
Amenity Centre, Wick Farm Road
Littlehampton. on the first Monday of
month at 8pm and third Sunday of month
at 6pm P Chernman 7 Talbot Road
Littlehampton. West Sussex DN1 7 7BL
Bognor Computer Dub meets at RAFA club.

Wateroii Square Bognor Regis West M ■

Sussex at 7 30pm on last Thursday ol each Compuler Dub meets on the last Friday
month BBC subgroup meets second every month Paul Griffiths. 1 Prescelli

Thursday Contact Leo Hughes 20 Road. Penlan Swansea SA5 8AF

Pmehurst Park. Aldwick. West Sussex Swmim Computer Club Meets at No

Brighton, Hov* A District Computer Dub 10 (pub). Union Street every Tuesday
Meets 7 30pm every second Wednesday at at 7 30pm Contact Robert Palmer
ck Community Centre Contact J 044 123602

7 30 10pm W Jones.

Road. Rhyl Clwyd
Boddou A District Computer Club
meets at Beddau Community Centre
7pm Mondays N*el Butters,
Newtown Liantwit 206305
Clwyd SO Computer Club. Contact
Allan Jones The Island i High Street
Connah s Quay Deeside Ctwyd 0244
816893 Meets at Deeside Community
Centre. Oueensferry Deeside on
Thursday at 7pm

Cefwyn Computer club meets at the
Greens Hotel. Colwyn Bay at 7pm
Contact 0 Bevan. c o Abergele Road.
Colwyn Bay. Clwyd LL29 7T>A
Cwewt Amateur Computer Club meets
at St Mary s Institute Stow Hill
Thursday at 7 30pm Rothery Harris.
16 Alanbrook Avenue. Newport,

Gwent Wales NPT60J
Liantwit Malar Computer Dub Meets
at Adult Education Centre, Liantwit
Major. every Tuesday Contact
Douglas Mountain 16 Denbigh Drive.
Liantwit Major South Glamorgan CF6
9GQ

Mold Computer Club Meets 7 30pm
on first and third Thursday of each
month at the Daniel Owen Centre. Earl
Street. Mold Contact G Johnson. 18
Daytona Onve Northop Hall Mold
Dwyd Wales Tel Deeside 821945
MHford Control Computer Club Open
to schoolchildren, meets every lunch
hour and evening Contact Harry
Evans, Miilord Central School,
Pnoryviiie Milford Haven Dyfed 043
784 571

Nowtown A Dntrid Computer Dub
meets first and third Wednesday of
each month Contact John Dale on 068
688 502

ood Amateur Computer Club
s fortnightly on Saturdays at
oed Welfare Hail Philip Williams.
38 Bryn Rhedyn Pencoed Bridgend
Mid-Glamorgan CF356TL 0656
860307

Pontypeel Computer Club meets at The
Settlement. RoackhiM Road
Pontypool. Gwent, on Friday Graham
Lovendge. on Pontypool 2827

Contact Bruce Piggott o
CVfiC Video Games Club Contact G Bond
7 Swift Lane. Langley Green. Crawley

>3602

WmhM A District Computer Club
Meets each Thursday Contact Mike
Houghton. 1 Snerweli Avenue
Wrexham Clwyd Wales

w A District Computer Dub
meets at 7 30pm on last Wednesday of
each month at the WRVS Centre, Hyde
Road. Eastbourne Jim Booth. 0323
51437

Horsham Microcomputer Dub Meets at
the Forest Community School. Comptons
Lane. Horsham on second Wednesday of
each month from 7 30pm Philip Dickinson
0403 60965 or Jim Lamg 0403 67522

d Compuler Dub meets at the
Wesley Hall Stratford upon Avon, on
me second Wednesday of each month
Details from Dms Parry on

at 7pm Deta
0789 68080

»’ Computer Dub Cl gives you an

elastic band and information sheet
This dub is for morons only Contact
William Mitchell. Highmoor House,
Green Lane. Welton. Lincolnshire

* A District Computer User Group

Meets at the Grange Centre Midhurst at
7pm on the second and fourth Thursday of
every month Contact Val Weston, tel
Midhurst 3876

i Microcomputing Dub Contact

i Computer Society meets at

Cannock Computer Systems. Old
Penkndge Road. Cannock, fortnightly
Terry Sale 20 Redwood Drive, Chase
Terrace. Walsall WS7 8AS
Coventry Computer Drde Contact Dms

Baugh. 9 Hillman House. Smithford Way.
Coventry CV1 1FZ

Coventry Micro Club meets on Wednesdays
at 7 30pm at Waisgrave Junior School
Jack Hewitt 3a Boswell Drive. Watsgrave-
on-Sowe. Coventry. Tel 615543
Writ** m outer Club meets at Park Hall

Community School on the second and
fourth Monday month 6 45-9 45pm Alison
Hunt 58 Princes Avenue Walsall. WSl
2DH, 0922 23875

West M.di*nds Amateur Computer Dub
meets at Enfield School. Love Lane.
Stourbridge, on the second and fourth
Tuesday of month John Tracey. 100 Booth
Dose. Bnerley Hill. Kingswmford. 0384
70097

WILTSHIRE

Chippenham end Caine, proposed new

club Matthew Jones. Pmhiiis, Came SNl 1
OLY

Chippenham Computer Club Contact Peter

K . 12 Seymore Road Chippenham or
ppenham 654940

riel Computer Club meets

at Old Pheasant Inn, New Street
WorceMer on the second Monday month
at 8pm 0 Stanton 55 Vauxhall Street.
Rainbow Hill WR38PA
YORKSHIRE

Barnsley Co- O per a tive Computer User
Group meets at Co-Op Social Dub.
Pogmore. Barnsley, on the last Tuesday
month at 7 30pm James Bndson. c o 39
Kereforth Hall Road Barnsley South Yorks
S70 6NF 0226 41753
Caiderdaie Computer Club meets on first
Tuesday of each month Contact Ray
Franklin on 0279 815088
Greenhead Grammar School Computer
Dub Brian Smith Greenhead Road
Keighley west Yorks B020 6EB 0535

Huddersfield Computer Ctub meets every
Monday Chns Townsend 760 4
Manchester Road. Lmthwaite
Huddersfield 0484 657299
HMey Computer Club meets alternate
Fridays at llkiey College West Yorks
Contact C Prince. 15 Sandholme Onve.
Burley in Wharfedaie West Yorks
KrigMay Computer Dub Meets each
Wednesday at 7 30pm at Methodist Church
Hall. Market Street Keighley. West Yorks
Contact Simon Midgley on 0535 681463
L**d* Microcomputer Users Group meets
at 8 Regent Street Chapel Merton,
fortnightly on Thursday at 6pm David
Parsons. 22 Victoria Walk Horsforth LS18
4PL

Program Powor, R Simpson 5 Wemsley
Road Leeds LS7 2BX 0532 683186
Shiptey CoiNg* Computer Group meets on
Tuesdays PaulChanneil. tel 0274
595731

South Yorhshir* Personal Computer Group
meets at General Lecture Theatre. St
Georges Building Mappm Street Sheffield,
on second Wednesday month at 7 30pm
Paul Sanderson. 8 Vernon Road. Tetley.
Sheffield Si 7 3QE

Thurmcou A District M cro Users Dub
meets at Thurnscoe Comprehensive
School. Physics Lab. Clayton Lane.
Thurnscoe Wednesday at 7 30pm during
school term Mr James Davis. 62 Tudor
Street Thurnscoe East. 0709 893880
Wait Yorhshir* Microcomputer Group
meets on Tuesdays Phillip Dark, c o Suite
204. Down House Arm ley Road. Leeds
LS122ES 0532 632532
York Computer Dub meets at the
Enterprise Club every Monday at 8pm K

Harrogate HG1 2BY. 0

>4 38239

Computer dubs are proliferating, so
much so there are two beavering in
Aylesbury. Bucks and causing PCN

them m Clubnet. Issue 46 We talked
about Aylesbury Computer dub but
should have been talking about The
Computer Dub in Aylesbury —
altogether a different kettle of chips
Not surpnsmgly. the contacts were
mixed up too Dr David Nowotmk of
12 Long Plough Aslon Clinton (0296
630667) is the man for ACC Sorry
" but you can

arigteatiy ciuglil hi PCtft aariy 4uyv

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

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IF YOU THINK YOU

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WITHOUT

databases, spreadsheets, and every
other application - SOFT tells you
whether new really is best or
whether the old standard is still the
one you should go for.

SOFT will help if you use your
micro for education. Whether you're
teaching yourself or your kids, SOFT
examines how well packages live up
to their claims, and assesses which
products really are appropriate for you
and your family.

And SOFT will help if you use your
micro for fun. Unlike some magazines,

SOFT isn't flooded with hundreds of
three- line reviews of boring "zap the

On the other hand, you too may have
come to realise that a microcomputer
without software is about as much
use as a car without petrol.

In which case you need to read
SOFT every month.

SOFT is the only micro-software
magazine you can buy. A magazine
you can trust to investigate and
explain the importance of packages
which will help you get the most
from your micro.

SOFT will help if you use your
micro for business. With more
comparative reviews than any other
magazine - of wordprocessors,

CAN SURVIVE
SOFTWARE, *
4BLY SURVIVE
SOFT

0L S0ptware
ISS J—

Klingons" variations. From Ant Attack
to Zaxxon via Eastern Front and Right
Simulator, SOFT carries only in-depth

evaluations of games f

which deserve to be big
sellers. And SOFT'S
reviews are at least as
entertaining as the
games themselves.

From March, SOFT
has been substantially
revamped to report,
review and comment on
even more packages
every month. SOFT is
available at all good

newsagents or, alternatively, you
can use the coupon for a post-free
sample of the latest issue.

Please send me a copy of the latest issue of SOFT. I enclose a cheque/postal
order for 85p made out to Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd.

Name

Address

Please send the completed form with your payment to:

SOFT, Sample Copy Offer, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P IDE
Telephone 01-631 1433.

TABS fur Apple II half pnee nominal
saks. purchases, slock, fas! data entry
Write llonus Santa Maria. Mallorca.
Spain or Tel: 0103471 -6211880 eves
Wanted: BBC B I 2 O S. Will travel to
collect and pay cash. Cassette, monitor/
tv. disk drive, printer considered Please
tel: Worthing 62076.

Commodore 64 + C2W recorder hook.
£ 1 20 of software brand new intro to Baste
Chess All lop games £250. Tel: Purflect
7498

ZXB1 I' K £25 worth of books, over £90
worth of software, various bits of
hardware worth £200 Sell for only £45
ono. Tel: evenings Rcigatc 47438
Dual ease for drives computer Size
15'* I2"*5* with mains data cables and
4080 switching unit £35. Tel: 051 644
6568 <D Edwards)

Vic 20 cassette deck. IbK RAM. over
£150 software. Quickshot 2 joysticks,
software includes O-level English. Phy-
sics Arcade games include Martian
Raider. Amok and more. £19$. Tel:
OI-24M 2686a m

Acorn OF* 0.9. £15 Astcc 40 watt
AC8I5I switched mode PSU for dual
drives computer £35 Tel: 051-644 6568
(D Edwards).

Me bits. Two Motherboards. Adventure-
land. Road Race. Super lander. M/C
Monitor. Programmers Aid. super ex-
pander. mans games, the list goes on.
Tel: Martvn 11268 696638
Wanted BBC B Will pay a good pnee
Contact Colin Graham. Wilderness
House. Stokes Road. Corsham . Wilts.
Tel (0249)712231 After 4pm
Spectrum . It ware sale (originals): half
list price 36 tapes (eg Hobbit. Scrabble.
Vu-Calc. K Oucst. Bugaboo. 3D Ant.
Miner. J Jack) All vgc. Tel: Gordon
0 1 -XI >6 0503 (daytime)

Swap Spectrum software, many titles
Send vour list for mine Daniel Koehler .
29 As Dunois. 94240 L Hay Les Roses.
France

Spectrum displays, word processes and
pnnts 50 characters per line. Choose
height, spacing and position £2 for
cassette JR Burgess. 26 Cubbington
Road. Leamington CV32 7AB.

BBC Micronct ROM brand new £|5.
Ameom DPS with manual and disc £25.
Prism acoustic modem for Prcstcl £50.
Tel Canterbury 75060(1
Swap Spectrum software over 70 popular
titles to swap Please send your list for
mine Eddie. 65 Anner Road. Dublin-8.
Ireland

Sharp M/.-8DK 48K As new . boxed with
Basics. Forth, m/c utilities, games,
books, user notes, ask £225. Still under
guarantee Tel: (0695)422472.
Spactramuitiwarctosellorswap Escape
MCP. Swordfight. Space Raiders.
Dreadnoughts. Shipol I loom, and many
more Tel: 886 7275 after 5pm ask John
Vk-20 cassette software. Vi-cak (calcu-
lator on screen). Adventures. Magic
Mirror and Werewolf Curse. £5 each or
all three for £10. Tel: Paul on (0455)
637427

PCN Billboard

VMoo Gam 48K. hi res graphics unit.
Gnomic interface. Tandy monitor, cost
£800. Over £900of software Allfor£450

ono I cl Btacttm (084)4*00
Wanted HIM B.I-20X M 01-2237196
after 6 pm

TirmteH VI printer keyboard, on stand
Upper/lower ease 80 coK RS232
Sprocket feed Complete but minor fault
so £75 ono Tel Rainford (074488)3918
Drago* 32 games. Alcatraz II. Frogger.
£5 each Tel Michael Octave. 014*3
0595. after 4pm

Atari tape software to swap Large
sekction to choose from I6K or 48K
Tel Bedford 44060 any evening
BBC software wanted Must he originals
in original packaging Will pay 45‘r
original cost Tel: Chns on (0643) 5824
(or immediate cash now’

VMao Genie with software and manuals,
toolkit and games, still boxed. £100
Tel: 0858 32834. evenings
Spectrum 488 + cassette player and
games cass. PCN books nos 2-43 +
Your Computer mags ♦ others. Spec-
trum onlv 6 months old. Offers around
£34X1. wifi split hooks from computer
Tel: (0254) 673057. after 6pni
Vk 168 switchahk RAM. light pen.
cassette recorder, hooks, over 50
games, introduction to Basic. I unused I
nearly new. quick sak £170 ono. Tel:
03552 44934

Wanted: Commodore 64 or BBC B.
both with cassette units Will pav up to
£2641 Tel Bridlington 75742
For sate I RS-80 model I level 2 + 32K
interface, monitor, graphic unit, cas-
sette recorder, books ♦ software Sell
for £4541 Also BBC B modem £50 Tel
061-368 7145

spreadsheet for Commodore

accept £75. Tel 01-952 2644. evenings
Spectrum 488 with AGE programmable
joystick interface. £1541 worth of
games All IV4 months old. owner
leaving country, must sell. £200. Tel:
01 -368 7352 (cicnings)

Fropl £154) software ♦ Atari 44X1 ( I6K)
♦ recorder ♦ lightpen . joystick All
for £21X1’ Also Donkey Kong £10.
Eastern Front £10 etc. Tel: 01-6736782
Chan, after 7pm. Owner leaving
Wanted Commodore 34MO or 404)1 dual
disk drive Will eolket Tel: Radktl
(09276) 6124

Atari BOB owner will swap games and
other software Tel: Knarr Cross 262.
after 5.30pm (Jon)

Dragon 32 3 months old plus joysticks,
light pen. £75 Software, dusicovcr.
hooks and mags Excellent condition
Worth £300. accept £175. Tel: Camher-
ky 15916.

U8101 328 cased Gegmon new ROMs
printer, interface 32-16. line screen.
Basic five toolkit. 30 lanes, books £I(X)
ono Tel: Chns 01-319 0098 (after
6pm).

Acont Atom. I2K+I2K. PSU. utility
ROM. 6522 via. manuals, kads 3
Atom hooks. Utilities and games cas-
settes £80 ono Tel: (0742) 655227
(evenings).

Atari 4!X>. 84X1 ROMS for sak or will
swap for tape software £10 each. Tel:
Bedford 44060 any evening for details
Spectrum 48K recorder printer. two
joysticks, interfaces, carrying cate
£254) worth software. Computer course
mags, hooks. £350 ono. Tel: 01-951
1681 (Edgwarcl.

SHARP MZ80K 4SK complete with
monitor and cassette deck. Many lan-
guages available for this sturdy and well
constructed computer OX). Tel: 01-
723 1547 (London).

Vk -Forth carlndgc (unopened), plus
invite to Forth nook and byte maga-
zine. (ourth issue All immaculate,
offers Tel: Ruislip 35173.

Atari SOB owner wishes to swap his disk
programs Anv swaps for other disks
considered Tel: 0903 42013 (after

tJmrted BBC model B. will pay £254).
extras considered, will collect Tel:
(0676) 13281 (Coventry)

Atari VC'S with 4 cartridges Combat
Space Invaders. Missile C ommand and
Activision Skiing. Only £50. Tel: 061-

Atari 4iXi 48K. program recorder, joy-
sticks. Basic. Star Raiders. Jumbo Jet.
Pilot cartridges, manuals, books. £175
ono Tel: 0224 742726 (evenings).

Atari VC'S with Pac-Man. brand new.
boxed, unwanted prize, only £49 Tel:
01-385 3645

Acorn soft: ) games, as new. original
boxes. £5 each or £41 the lot. Ruston
BBC comprkr £18. Planetoid disc £7
Tel Wentworth 2621

5pm).

Sharp MZBOK cover volume control
games. Forth educational programs,
copter manuals, books, user notes,
cxcclknt condition. £250. Tel: Lines.
1)526 43448 (evenings)

Draco* 32 • IM H loftwaic Sell
centering joysticks. Dragon user maga-
zines. new keyboard. Still boxed, under
guarantee. £180. Chew computer. £15.
bought with Dragon. £15. Tel: Bob
01-672 6383

TT9B.4A phis all leads and manuals with
Munch-Man cartridge and 25 programs
on cassette. Worth £140+. yours for
only £75 Tel: Great Missenden (02406)

Vk 20 16K ♦ cassette recorder,

graphics cartridge + 13 cassettes and
cartridge games Also joystick and
books. £170. Tel: 0293 28464 after

'SZc Sprite generator. BBC 32K cre-
ates fast moving sprites, easily accessed
from Basic Original packaging. Two
demo games. £12.95 ono. Normally
£17 95 Tel: 01-863 8939
Oragon 32 as new. compktc in box.
unused, sell £120 Tel Huddcrsfkkl
32.360 or contact Brian. 36 Tcntcrhill
Lane. Shccprtdgc. Huddersfield. W
Yorks.

Dams IEEE interface + cabk for CBM
64 Also games bv well known authors
and books for CBM 64 and Vic 20. Tel:
(121-513 8666 for details
Sharp M2 808 software from £4 50
Including Eagk II. Whitehall. Canyon
Raider. Morse Code. Catch. Donkey
Kong. Bowling. French Tutor and lots
more Tel: (0296) 820KK evenings for
details

Dragon 32 with joysticks Software
includes King. Kattcrpillar. Shuttle.
Frogger. worth £245 will sell for £150
David Stewart. Balnahecn. Con-
onhndgc. Dingwall. Ross-shirc. Scot-
land Tel 0349 61378.

Wanted RS232 prtetec. Any make consi-
dered If desired will collect from
Dublin or Wexford area Tel: (053)
.34191 evenings Ask lor Rory
Oric-1 software, including Xenon- 1 .
Dinky -Kong. Lunar Lander. Asteroids

Batteries (2 players) cost around £35
new . good condition (or ZX printer and
up to £8 cash Tel (0908) 76247
Tax as TT99/4A speech synthesiser, joy-
sticks. cassette lead, cartridges Parsec.
Munchman. Attack. Home Money
Management. Chess, video games,
£110 ono Tel: Dave. Farnhotough.
Hants (0152) 519127
TRS80 Mode) III. I6K + CTR80A
cassette. L printer VII. scnpsrt w/p.
manuals and software. £6541 ono. Tel:
0594 563558 (Milkr Forest of Dean)
Spectra* bits and pieces, microdnvc
(Interface) order form £5 Machine
code book £3. Software originals.
Tranz-am. Jctpac. Pssst. Manic Miner.
Pcnctrator. Winged Avenger. £3 each.

Commodore 64 software Games and
utilities to swap Also want 1541 disc
drive or similar. Tel: 0752 660212 after
6pm

Draco* 32 + £IIK> software and joy-
sticks. Three months old. including
Donkey Kong. Android Attack.
Meteoroids £230 ono. Tel: 01-748
3231

Do you ow* a Vk 207 I'd like to swop or
borrow your games and ideas Tel:
Flimwcll 424 (Sussex) ask for Ian
Swap my Intcllivtsion with 1 1 cartridges
for 48k Spectrum Games include
Dungcons and Dragons. Lock and
Chase. Astrosmash. Backgammon.
Bowling Tel: 01-368 8465
N*wte*hi ..d for sak. £2tX) delivered,
including database, manual Newhram
hook. 5) blank CIO cassettes. Tel:
01-449 4)391 (9-IUpm)

Orer 1 10 computer magazines lor sak,
PCN. PCW. Your Computer etc. cost
me £75. cost you £15 ♦ postage S.
Bevies . Tallis. 'Gresham's. Holt. Nor-
folk

Vk 20 It) months old. still guaranteed.
£60 Cassette software vgc. but no G2N
cassette deck kads. available on re-
quest. only £711 Tel: 0865 774861
ZXBl Mentored) keyboard. 16K RAM
printer. 0 Save Baltpak. loads of
business, games viftwarc All immacu-
late. genuine reason for sak. £180 Tel:
01-731 5531 eves

ZXBl IK. Manuals, leads and power
supply Postage paid. £28. or swap (or 2
Commodore 64 Joysticks ♦ software.
Tel 086 287 388. Ask for Billy

Billboard Buy & Sell Form

To place your Billboard ad fill in the form on the left . with one

word per space, up to a maximum of 24 words. Send the
completed form, together with a cheque or postal order for
£1.50 made payable to VNU Business Publications, to:

Billboard. Personal Computer News, 62 Oxford Street. Ixtndon

W 1 A 2HG. Note that we cannot guarantee that your ad appears
in any specific issue, and that we cannot accept ads from
commercial organisations of any sort.

Your name: *

Address!

Telephone:

90

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

MICROSHOP

B £12 per single column cm. Minimum size 3cm. Series discount available. Also spot colour available. I
Column width. 1 column .'7mm. 2 colours I IHmm 3 columns l7Umm Copy Oates: 10 days prior to publication
Contact: Christian McCarthy on 01-323 3211

Jfl

RUN

KONfljROPA MONITOR PLINTH

Sturdy G.R.P.
available in /

red, smoke grey C ? T **"0^
or white. jp* portable [

£25.89 —

Will house most home computer peripherals.

SAVESPACE IN STYLE!

Kaatwepa. 2 Lloyd Cottepes. Hatch Beauchamp.
TA3BAA. Somerset
* 2» Bays delivery while stocks last.

We pay cadi fees, royalties and distribute in the
UK. USA and Europe. '

Phom Bavinpyloke 10256) 2SI07

DREAM SOFTWARE LTD

Oepl PCN.

P O Boi 64, Baemgitoko. Hants RG21 2LB

WE ARE 64 EXPERTS

This week s specials include 1541 drives with
£ 1 80- worth software £ 1 99 * vat 80 col cards with
tree 80 col WP £133 + vat We have printer
interlaces and lots ottow cost pnnters. e g CP80
Cl 99 • vat and Daisy Wheel printers from £277 ♦
vat Disk alignment our speciality

SAEjyjphor y lor our con ^^hensive lists

17 Bridge Street Leighton Buuard. Bedfordshire
Tel: (8525) 376622 Closed Thursday

WANTED

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

all models bought for cash

Morgan Camera Company

160 Tottenham Court Road.
London W1. Tel: 01-388 2562

Makes BACK. UP COPIES olAU SPECTRUM programs
(mcl headertess. m c. unstoppable) the) we ere aware of
with MANY unque features FULL MONEY BACK
GUARANTEE I you are not sat.*l*d

• LOADS * at program par* CONTMUOUSLV Varan Stops
Abort ProersrtiNsrm KAO dau

■ Imi rw unom nry .w tsie, uomve coprn onto
Cost only C4.7S or CS.7S with M DRIVE

S STARS FROM THi' MCW REVIEW. WITH 3 eel 4 ratMgi ol

THE BEST FOR THE 64

1 THE HOBBIT (Melbourne) .

2 SKRAMBLElAmrog)

3 COLOSSAL (level 9)

4 MANlCMINER(SoftwareProiects)

5 CHINA MINER (Interceptor)

6 FORBIDDEN FOREST (COSMI )

7 HUNCH BACK (Ocean)

All prices include p&p Send sae tor list,
machine Cheques and P 0’s to

LAMER SOFTWARE
22. West Street. Weston super-Mare. A
Telephone: 0934 26339

£11.65
£6 95
£ 11.00
£6 95
£6 95
£11 00
£6 00

WHOLESALE ONLY

For the very best in Oric, Spec! rum and
Commodore games from all the major

Also Oric hard ware and accessories.
Next day delivery

VANGUARD VIDEO

PRESTON 0772 617665

COMPUTER

CABINETS

A range of cabinets and
housing units especially
designed for your home
computer system. Keep it dust
free, tidy and secure.

Write or phone for colour
brochure:

MARCOL CABINETS

PO BOX 69. SOUTHAMPTON
Tel: 0703 731168

J& F COMPUTERS

We stock a wide range of hardware, software and
peripherals for most of the leading home compu-
ters including SPECTRUM BBC Commodore 64
and VIC 20. Phone or write now for more details
OUT NOW- SYSMON machine code monitor
programs give you access to machine code on
the VIC 20 and Commodore 64 Features
include Hex Dumps. Load and Save of
machine-code. Assembler. Disassembler and
lots more’ At only £5 50 for tape versions for
either machine, or £10 00 for SYSMON 20 on an
EPROM, it's an invaluable tool for the serious
programmer Also, we program EPROM s with
your programs, from £10 00 — write or phone
for a quotation. Trade enquiries welcome
Send cheques postal orders now to:—

J A F COMPUTERS,

ROSEHILL. LADOCK.
TRURO. CORNWALL TR2 4PQ
or telephone u$ (any time) on
St. AustBfl (0726) 862758

HOME COUNTIES
^ AUCTION SALES ^

(By order of the Official Receiver)

SALE BY TENDER

including

Qty new & used computer hardware & software
including personal computers, tape recorders,
printers, disk drives, leads & plugs, manuals, game
cassettes, carbons & ribbons and much more

AT

THE SALEROOM. COW LANE.

HIGH STREET. BUSHEY. HERTS.
Viewing Wednesday 7th March 1984

Forms of Tender (price 50p) available from the
Auctioneer

Telephone enquiries 01 -950 9232
(No parking in Cow Lane. — Please use free car
park m Kemp Place opposite)

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

MICROSHOP

AMOEBA SOFTWARE

54 WALDEN AVENUE. CHISLEHURST. KENT
LAZE BLAZE

Superb machine code action. Pit your beam against the 2 beams of the
computer Race your opponent for the random fuel dumps For the very
stong of heart, battle to the death in the maze 9 speed levels. Over 500
Options in this fast moving arena

40 K Spectrum £5.95

Telephone: 01 -657 8999

TANK TRAX

A TWO player game to stretch your skill Destroy your opponents tank before he
obliterates yours Choose the battlefield, fire over the mountains or select
foothills and have an eyeball to eyeball confrontation Sounds easy, but don t
forget as in all real situations weather plays an enormous part in success or
failure This game is no exception The wind must be allowed for if you have no
desire to blow yourself up

Uses all the 48K memory of the Spectrum £5.95

* Games that grow on you*

Soon to be round In all good .oftwar. outlets

It you are having trouble buying your copy tend a cheque or postal odor to

AMOEBA SOFTWARE. 54 WALDEN AVENUE. CMISLEMURST. KENT

Services

DATA DUPLICATION

CASSETTE DUPLICATION, DISK-DUPLICATION,
PACKAGING AND CUSTOM WOUND CASSETTES
FOR FURTHER INFORMA TION CONTACT:

VICTORY SILVER PRODUCTIONS LTD.

22 COURT ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
CWMBRAN, GWENT
Tel No: 06333 72327/8

CONVERT YOUR
HOBBY INTO A CAREER?

SALESMANAGER

Maykmg Records, a successful record pressing and audio-tape duplicating operation
based in Portobello Road W 11. require a Sales person to spearhead our move into
computer cassette duplication, by acqumng new accounts and selling our duplication
facility

For a demanding and rewarding position m an exciting market that combines creative
ingenuity with business acumen, the applicant should be highly s&t- motivated. computer
games micro- processor enthusiast, (or be so by their interview!) with an ability to work
hard ideally aged 21 -28. you should have some selling retail experience and enjoy the
prospect ol working as part ot a young production team operating m the record-oames
Market Good salary for the right person Telephone or write to Bnan Bonnar NOW 1

MAYKING RECORDS
57 Portobello Road.

London W.11 3DB.

(01)727-2614

92

PCN FFBRi; ARY 25 1984

MICROSHOP

BICODALS — DO YOU SPEAK 6502 OR Z80?

JOYSTICK JOUSTERS CHALLENGE YOU TO SINGE
THEIR SILICON WITH TURBO CHARGED CREATIONS
SEND YOUR COMPOSITIONS FOR IMMEDIATE
EVALUATION TO

KACE INTERNATIONAL (SOFTWARE DIVISION)

32 AVON TRADING ESTATE
AVONMORE ROAD LONDON W.14
TELEPHONE 01 -602 7355

MICRO SOFTWARE WANTED

EARN MONEY FOR YOURSELF.
YOUR BUSINESS OR YOUR CLUB

If you own the copyright for good
business or club software, we can
help you make it marketable.

GENEROUS ROYALTIES PAID

Please send a brief description to

COMPUTER SYSTEMS
IMPLEMENTATION Ltd

17 Morden Road. London SE3 OAA.

All replies treated in confidence.

A

OCTOPUS

COMPUTER COURSES

il.Mlaa — UtiagMCrt
Details from Octopus. St Joaapn* Hall.
Junction Rd Oxford 0X4 2UJ
Tataphona Oxford (0M5) 71 1929

BIADK CASSETTES

:n it great «•
rtt wifi lab*

labab. ml*T csnit and Kbraqr cat*

Prices include VA T. post & pecking
LENGTH MX MCE 1191 OTY VALUE

5 mins (c.5) £4 55

£440
£445
£450
£4.70
£5 30
£7 00

10 mins (c.101
12 mins (c 12)
15 mins (c.15)
30 mms (c 30)
60 mins (c60)
90 mins lc.901

Cheque Postal Order enclosed lor
twStisouMSMiaM GftasTTtwis sumchwxuct it*
OPKT MOV UUMACTLW*S » HOtSSXMAl 8W«C CASSES

PROP€SSKX¥^ mAGHETIO DD

CxMefta Houja. 22) Humlat Road. Leads LS10JVY_

FREEPOST Tel 10632) 70(0(i

DAVID

MITCHELL

54 CRAIGS DRIVE
EDINBURGH

Telephone
031-339 7605

FLOPPY DISC SYSTEM
FOR SPECTRUM

FDC-1 MK2

* Disc operating system in ROM

* Passwordprotected

* Occupies only the top IK RAM space

* Duplicated Spectrum connector is
provided

* 1 0OK storage for 40 tracks, single side
disc drive

* tlWill support two 40. 60 tracks, single or
double sided drives

* BASIC programs can be merged
£85.00 ex VAT P&P£1 .00 ex VAT

40 track, single sidednve boxed with PSU
(BBC compatible)

£185.00 ex VAT
P&P£5.00exVAT

Further details available from

Technology Research Ltd.

35# Waal mount Road London SttINW

Tel: 01 -856 >408

IN STOCK
NOW

ACORN ELECTRON

•BBC MODEL B-
•VIC 20 STARTER PACK-
•COMMODORE 64-

SPECTRUM 48K

• ATARI 600XL •

• DRAGON 32 •

• C2N CASSETTE UNITS •

• ALPHA COM- JUKI EPSON •
•COMMODORE 1525, 1526

• SHINWA CP80 •

SANPLE DAISYWHEEL

• QUENDATA •

BELL and HOW RECORDERS •
• SANYO MONITORS •
•COMMODORE 1541 DRIVES
WITH EASY SCRIPT

• LVL DRIVES •

•VIC 20 CARTRIDGES HALF

PRICE •

Over 2000 different programs
in stock

10 different joysticks, books,
mags and accessories

WHY NOT PAY A VISIT
TO LOGIC
NORTH LONDON S
TOP MICRO STORE

See for yourself the huge
range of products for the
Micro enthusiast

Free ci 2 data cassette with
all purchases with this ad

LOGIC SALES

19 THE BROADWAY
SOUTHGATE
LONDON N14

Tel: 882 4942

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

93

MICROSHOP

VALUE * VALUE ■ VALUE

BASE UNITS

APPLE COMPATIBLE ADD-ONS APPLE DRIVE ADD-ONS

compatible with Apple card* and
software Equivalent to Apple II plus with extra 16K
and new Autostart Monitor. Additional features
include ROM based system control program. MK on
board memory, expandable to I92K MINI WRITER
on board in ROM 24K system memory Tiny
assembler with assembly and disassembly function.
Upper and lower case characters. Function
commands on keyboard. Numerical and cursor
keypad. Can load I40K diskette program to I92K
user RAM Staqgerinq value 1
* * Dealer enquiries welcomed * *

MONITORS

12* Green 18 Mh* monitor in elegant plastic o

IBM PC LOOK-ALIKE

II shortly be offering a fully PC compatible

80 COL UMN CARD CPA 4
£57. SO 62 VAT

80 character* by 24 lines with true descenders
7x9 character resolution compatible with BASIC.
PASCAL and CP M Modem compatible Similar to
V,drx

Z80 CARD CPA 3

£47.90 * 1719 VAT
128K RAM CARD CPA 20
£199.00* 129 65 VAT

Enables user to load I42K program or use as a last
access disk

16K RAM LANGUAGE CARD CPA1

£57.50 * I862VAT

FORTH CARD CPA 2

£57.50* 78 62 VAT

INTEGER CARD CPA 2 A

£57. 50* 18 62 VAT

EPROM WRITER CARD CPA S

£79 00 * £118S VAT

Programs 2716. 2732. 2764. 2516. 2532. 2564. Read,
write, copy, compare.

PAL CARD CPA 7
£57.50 *£7.30 VAT

Display your II plus colour text and graphics on
your home television

PRINTER INTERFACE CARD CPA 9

£38.32 * IS7SVAT

Parallel printer interface.

RS 232 CARD CPA 12

£57.50* 7862 VAT

DISK INTER FA CE CPA 6

£47.90 ¥t7 19 VAT

To connect Apple or compatible drive

DISK DRIVE CPA 14
£166.00 ottoVAT

Top quality lapancsc slimline drive with cable

PRINTERS

.£2596

VA*

CP80 Matrix Printer 80 cps. bidirectional logic
seeking 80 column. Friction and adiustable tractor
leed. Hi res and block graphics. True descenders.
Switchable italic print. Auto underline

TURNKEY OFFERS

Base 64 unit with monitor, two slim line disk drives
and disk controller for £74Q, QQ * S 112 35 VA1
Base 64 unit with monitor, two slim line disk drives
and controller. Z80 card and 80 column card. CP 80
printer and controller £ JJQQ QQ ♦ 1166 20 VA1

TO ORDER.

Access and Barchycard accepted.

Send exoct amount including 15% VAT plus £1 50
pur board carnage and insurance, or £7 00
carnage and insurance tor man i tort, printers and
base units OR call at our warehouse at the South
Bank Business Centre. 400 yards tram Vaushall
Tube Station

WOLFCROWN

Alphaso/t Limited Unit 8, South Bank Business Centre, 1 Ponton Road, London SW8 SBL Telephone 01 627 4400

COMPUTERS AT STATACOM

003

£399

£199

DRAGON
32k £175 64k £225

PRINTERS

MONITORS

Fidelity 14' col. mon. /TV £230

Uchida daisywheel £450

Philips 12" green screen £90 EpsonRX80 £279

Phoenix 12"green screen £93 Microlite 80 £259

Phoenix 12" amber screen £99 SeikoshaGPlOOA £215

3 A 5'/* DRIVES: Hitachi; Mitsubishi Taac; Torch Dragon Data; Cumana

plus various controllers and filing systems

SOFTWARE: A comprehensive range of business, games, utility and
specialist software TRY BEFORE YOU BUY'

STATACOM LTD.

IN THE PEDESTRIAN PRECINCT
OPPOSITE TESC0

01-661 2266

243 High St, Sutton

OPEN MONDAY
SATURDAY
from 9 00am to 6 00pm
(8.00pm on Fridays)

i

1

f

zSj

Independent Programmer’s Marketing Service

MICRO GOLD otter excellent local area franchise terms to
people who can present a great deal to software dealers,
video tape hire centres and record shops on a part time
basis

APPLICANTS should be prepared to work at least 6 hours
per week, be over 1 8. well spoken, well dressed, mobile and
possess a 48k Spectrum computer An initial deposit on
stock supplied will cost £300 which is fully refundable under
the terms of our wntten agreement. No other capital outlay is
required and no programming experience is necessary

COMMISSION on sales is an incredible 40% of trade price
As a Micro Gold agent you will be able to offer our range of
quality computer games at exceptional discount to retailers.
In addition we will provide a very special free offer, of great
value to retailers, which will require demonstration. All Micro
Gold software is attractively packaged and sensibly priced.

MICRO GOLD becomes fully operational on March 1 st. For
full details write to:

TONY RAINBIRD
MICRO GOLD
19. STABLE CROFT
CHELMSFORD
ESSEX CM1 5YX

Please include your telephone number.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 1984

MICROSHOP

Sirnw to

»?ZZ2i&!!!eg' WiT|litf<Jrt-1e

@0000 comrenTion

in prize micro vitic cua ir spectrum colour monitor

i « 2nd PRIZE TRICKSTICK t INTERFACE
40 > 3.4 PRIZE : PAINTBOX SOFTWARE

CREDIT CARD HOTLINE 0382 88833
S0FTR1CKS. 1 ROWAN PLACE. DUNDEE DD3 OPH

POOLS

PREDICTION

“POOLSWINNER"

The most sophisticated Pools Prediction Aid available Gives probabilities ol
score draws draws, homes or aways. based on two databases holding over
20. 000 matches (included)

The databases are automatically updated as results are entered This year 's
results are supplied with the package

Can be used m simple mode, or with parameter adjustments to develop your
own unique forecast method

Fully documented, available now tor Apple Spectrum (48K). Oragon. ZX81
(16K). Commadore 64. BBC (BJ (others — please enquire)

Cl 5.M (discs tapes)

“POOLSDATA”

CompleterecordolaliEnglishFootbail League matches 1978-83 Team, scores
and dates ol 10.000 matches held m simple format, ready for your analysis
Starter analysis programs and full documentation included Available tor
Apple. Spectrum. ZX81 . BBC. Dragon. Commodore senes

5 years Oata C15 00 2 yean Data £7.50

SELEC SOFTWARE (PCN)

37 Councillor Lone.
Chwadie. Choehire
061-428 7425

E3

SPECTRUM FANS
Jet Set Willy is coming
Avoid post release delays
order early to ensure yoorcopy

Cheque P.0.tor£5.95 + 30p p&p payable to

J O Mathieson. 37 Leighton Rd. Hove. Sussex
BN37AE

Telephone 0273-771 031

Microshop Classified

• Discounted Software for Spectrum.
B.B.C.. Commodore M. Vic 20. Dragon.
Atari, and others, send S.A.E. for lists.
N.P. Cooper. Computer Software. 8.
Weldon Close. Church Crookham, Hants.
GU130BG.

• Computer Pen Pats available! Send £1
chcque/PO and sae enclosing your name,
address, and computer make to: The
Secretary. D.D. Hudson. The Association
of Computer Pen Pals. 6 Swanborough
Place. Brighton BN2 5PZ.

• Fact sheet for Atari computers. Send £1
to R. Armour. 10 Sallagh Park. Larne.
County Antrim.

• ZX81 16K Dialogue tape. Program has
over KMX) words to form a fascinating
dialogue with the user. Send £8.50 to N.J.
Edwards. 17 Palace St. Norwich. Norfolk.

POOLS

PREDICTION

SSOKBAM.*

» imx ewi tit « > iwn ewi n m

SELEC SOFTWARE |PCN|

17 Cli m f K Lm
CMMhCKwNn
MI-414 741*

E3

SALE

0S80RNE inc WordStar M Save etc CS M in 200 (AppM
dontl t1*S App* It E2Sa App* II EuroplM £3M AppN d.s*
drtv* m«n control* C225 BB.' ModtlB Q2S SoacimmlM
CM Slurp MZ80* 48K Cl IS AUr
Colour Gao* EM 0nc48*t7S ^

tie Vie 20 tie Commander

mondor Cl 73 Tandy kmpm* IIVf12S

CIS Tl 9SIA til Epson 8 « 20 aim m*

ZX31C2S PM4022pnmwC1M taroaCwrtromcs pnn*
m» ouv nor dams v* n*vo r sol CM Spactr\*n s «a . .

“ ' — ' Dommoes Gnoti Mum Menace Spookymen Faust

JFM01 073 Hmbrtn A Ad CfStllS NasCom ,n pUsfc
ciwgnt Forth or somedmg 2X81 ine metal case and proper
keyboard MomHowortbulnuytuiMilfyO# Wswareiust-n
nc MamaPonal Soccer Circus. HoOM TeUnaard Almost
torootN€CPC820lA shopsoMd*t20M*C437 Allpncesinc
VAT Moroan Camera Co 160TonenhamCrtRd LondonWt Tel
01 388 2562

Immediate

Im pact?

To advertise in the largest semi display section of
any micro magaame call
Christian McCarthy
on 01 -323 321 1 ext. 342

MICROSHOP

CLASSIFIED

This is your opportunity to
advertise in Personal Compu-
ter News, Britain's No. 1 Mic-
ro-Computer Weekly.

For only 35p per word, you
can relay your message to
readers all over the country!
Write your ad on a sheet of
paper with a minimum of 20
words in block capitals. Also
include your name , address &
tel. no. Send your ad with
your cheque or P.O. to
Microshop Classified, Per-
sonal Computer News. 62
Oxford Street, London Wl.

Name

Tel

Address

Please place my advert in PCN for week/s.

I enclose remittance for

made payable to Personal Computer News.
(Total “Number of wccksxNumbcr of
words x35p)

Barclaycard Access No.

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

95

QUIT

Dizzy heights

WH Smith has been welcom-
ing visitors flying in to Heath-
row with this promotion of
Acorn’s new ‘Electronic’ com-
puter. presumably the latest in
a long line of steam, gas and
hydraulic micros.

The ‘Electronic’ was unfortu-
nately out of range of the
camera.

Coming next week

On* Today— Million* of word* later. essential topic*, finally Personal
after dozens of hardware and Computer News clock* up its first

software Pro-Tests, with scons of year ... and embarks upon its
program listings under our belts, not second with much more of the same

to mention 18 complete pull -out -and- only better,

keep guides to a startling array of Stay with us.

What’s in a name Dept.

It’s called the Macintosh be-
cause California’s full of fruit
cakes. PCN hasn't really made
much of the slightly non-stan-
dard spelling of Apple’s latest.
We're a liberal bunch, and if
Apple wants to spell Macin-
tosh thus, that fine by us.

But north of the border,
controversy rages. The letters
column of the Glasgow Herald
tells us that the prefix ‘Mac’

should only be followed by a
capital letter if the remainder
of the word is a proper name.
Hence MacDonald. And how
many people called Intosh do
you know? Please don’t
write . . .

Macintosh, as it should cor-
rectly be. translates from the
Gaelic as ‘son of the leader.’
Lisa is then a corruption of the
Gaelic leader, we suppose.

usMsmsr

The Pied Piper communications
package which we said last week
costs £230 includes the price of a
Buzzbox hardwired modem. And
distributor STM (Europe) says
that the new 16-bit IBM-compati-
ble micro will not replace its
existing 8-bit system, but will com-
plement it.

Mexican fruit

Apart from cultivating droop-
ing moustaches and torturing
themselves with very hot food.
Mexicans have another pecu-
lair attitude that tends to limit
the attractions of their country
to the makers of computers.
They like their manufacturers
to be local.

This puts the grasping US
multinationals in a spot.

Apple has found one way
round this — it has joined a
partnership with a Mexican
company called Groupo Man-
zana. which will hold 51 per
cent of the resultant joint
venture. Since its name is the
Spanish for Apple Group' it
should know what it’s about.

PCN Datelines keeps you in touch w ith up-coming events. Make
sure you enter them in your diary.

Organisers who would likc.detailsofcomingeventsincluded in

PCN Datelines should send the information at least one month
before the event. Write to PCN Datelines. Personal Computer
News. 62 Oxford Street. London W1A 2HG.

UK EVENTS

Event

Dates

Venue

Organisers

Information Technology & Office

February 21-24

Barbican Centre. London ECI

B E D Exhibitions Ltd . 01-647 1001

Automation Exhibition and

Conference

Educational Software Fair

March 2-3

Dauntscy's School. West Lavington.

P Harris. Lavington 2446

Devizes. W ilts

OEM Only Conference

March 7

Hilton Hotel. London Wl

Tom Lewis. 01-994 6477

Computer Trade Show

March 13-15

Wembley Conference Centre

Reed Exhibitions. 01-643 8040

Scottish Computer Conference

March 13-15

Holiday Inn. Glasgow

Ouadrilcct. 01-242 8697

Electron & BBC Micro

March 29- April 1

New Horticultural

Susie Ltpman 061-456 8383

User Show

Hall. Westminster. London

Computer Aided Design

April 3-5

Met. Exhibition Hall

Reed Exhibitions. 01-643 8040

ArtiTicial Intelligence Seminar

April 7-8

City University. London

Warm Boot Ltd. 01-368 7561

Sir Frederick Osborn School

Aprils

Sir Frederick Osborn School.

Alan Henderson. Welwyn Garden 23367/8

Computer Fair

Welwyn Garden City

COMPEC WALES

April 10-12

Cardiff University

Reed Exhibitions. 01-643 8040

OVERSEAS EVENTS

Event

Dates

Venue

Organisers

Personal Business Computer Show

February 29-

Hong Kong

Overseas Exhibition Services Ltd.. 01-486 1951

March 3

Personal Computer Show

March 14-17

Sydney. Australia

ECL Ltd. 01-486 1951

International Business Equipment &

March 13-17

Singapore

International Business Centre Co. Ltd.. 8F

Computer Show

Hosoi Building. 15-7. 5-chomc Honmachi.

Higashi-ku. Osaka. Japan

Gcof Wheelwright *Un«m,
Ian Scale > Futures editor John LclticcM
at Vickie RobinvwArtMractorJim l>an\n
gar Sue dementi I
S.uion Gran

■r I )at ul Kobinw Assistant art editor I loydS.iMnLayuutartM Vigel Wingrovi Publisher Mark

ir Mark Satchel I Sato* executives c hnstian McCarthy . Martc-Thcrcsc Bolter. John Bryan.

futrtos GulStCVCI Subscription addrust S3 I lilh

Oxford Street London W I A 2110 01-323 321 1

consent from the copy right holder^ Photosct by Quickset . I 84- 1 86 Old Street. London EC I . Printed by Chase Web Offset . St Austell . Cornwall . Distributed by Scvmour Press .
334 Britton Road. London SWU. 01-733 4444 Registered at the PO as a newspaper

PCN FEBRUARY 25 IW4

BEAR

BOVVER

Matthew Smith

The saga continues . Vfi
r/itp to riches Followfwi
W/lly in his latest hairJa
adventure as new penfsj
avtait him in his luxuriou
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